Ever since it became clear that a new Daredevil series was in the works, we’ve had questions. Is Charlie Cox playing his Netflix Daredevil or a new version? Will Foggy and Karen be in the show?
These are valid questions, but here’s a bigger one: Who’s working on it? According to The Hollywood Reporter, the series is getting a significant reset after Kevin Feige saw early footage and decided the show wasn’t working. THR writes, “So, in late September, Marvel quietly let go head writers Chris Ord and Matt Corman and also released the directors for the remainder of the season as part of a significant creative reboot of the series.”
THR says that less than half of the new season had been filmed when production halted for the writers’ strike—and that’s when Feige took a look at what they had so far and was underwhelmed. “Sources say that Corman and Ord crafted a legal procedural that did not resemble the Netflix version, known for its action and violence. Cox didn’t even show up in costume until the fourth episode. Marvel, after greenlighting the concept, found itself needing to rethink the original intention of the show,” THR‘s Borys Kit writes.
Corman and Ord were never a logical choice as head writers for Daredevil (as THR points out, Disney doesn’t use showrunners, but “depended on film executives to run its series,” which seems like a problem in and of itself, frankly). They’re the creators of Covert Affairs, and co-wrote episodes of Containment, The Brave, and The Enemy Within—an odd resume for a team expected to make a new hit out of an established hero.
Marvel has had turnover on the creative staff of its shows before, notably on the troubled Secret Invasion, and it seems they may have learned a lesson or two from those situations; Kit writes that the studio has begun to see that “it would be helpful for its shows to have a creative throughline from start to finish.” They may also lean more into a more traditional multi-season structure.
What all of this means for the new Daredevil is far from clear. Corman and Ord will stay on as executive producers on the series, which will keep some of the footage that has been shot—but presumably when new head writers come in, it will be with their own vision. Whatever happens, it seems safe to assume we won’t be seeing a suited-up Matt Murdock anytime soon.
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