Kingpin actor Vincent D’Onofrio reacted to the recent report that Daredevil: Born Again is being scrapped by Marvel Studios.
A recent report from The Hollywood Reporter’s Borys Kit that includes comments from Marvel’s head of streaming, television, and animation Brad Winderbaum claims that Daredevil: Born Again is being scrapped after nearly half of the planned 18-episode series had been produced before the Writers Guild of America shut down production in July.
The show was reportedly a “legal procedural that did not resemble the Netflix version” and Cox’s Daredevil did not “show up in costume until after the fourth episode.”
Kit detailed, “Marvel quietly let go of 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.”
This action was taken after Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige and other Marvel executives reviewed footage and came away believing “the show wasn’t working.”
With the show being scrapped and the head writers and directors being let go, Marvel Studios is looking for new writers and director for the projects. However, they also plan “to keep some scenes and episodes, though other serialized elements will be injected.”
Actor Vincent D’Onofrio, who returns to the role of Kingpin in this new Disney+ series, reacted to this report writing on X, “Unless you really know what’s going there’s a chance you could be wrong about this statement.”
“We are going to bring forward the best series we can. One we can be proud of. Have some trust my freind, trust,” he added.
In a subsequent response he added, “Every cool project I’ve been involved with has evolved constantly during pre- production, production and post. It’s just reported on these days as if it’s big news. It’s not. It’s simple a bunch of creatives doing their best to get it right. It’s a constant in this business.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he declared. “Frankly I’d be worried if we were settling for less.”
While D’Onofrio is clearly trying to spin the scrapping of the series in a positive light, the report also noted just how bad things had gotten over at Marvel Studios. Specifically, it claims that various “factions became entrenched and leaders for vied for supremacy during Secret Invasion’s preproduction in London.”
A source informed Kit, “It was weeks of people not getting along, and it erupted.”
To try and smooth things over, Marvel sent in Jonathan Schwartz and it appears he eventually replaced a number of the show’s line producers, unit production managers, and assistant directors. Nevertheless, the show was terrible and the audience scores and viewership data reflect it.
The report also notes that Marvel Studios is completely restructuring its television division and will embrace a more traditional approach with showrunners creating pilots and show bibles that go through an approval process rather than greenlighting an entire series based on a script.
Winderbaum informed Kit, “It’s a term (showrunner) we’ve not only grown comfortable with but also learned to embrace.”
He also noted they are bringing in seasoned executives that are committed to television and streaming, “We need executives that are dedicated to this medium, that are going to focus on streaming, focus on television because they are two different forms.”
In fact, he shared his overarching goal, “We’re trying to marry the Marvel culture with the traditional television culture. It comes down to, ‘How can we tell stories in television that honor what’s so great about the source material?”
What do you make of D’Onofrio’s reaction to this report that Daredevil: Born Again is scrapped?