Charlie Cox says he and Daredevil: Born Again co-star Vincent D’Onofrio owe Marvel Studios a debt — and he means it literally. Speaking on the Happy Sad Confused podcast with host Josh Horowitz, the actor reflected on the now-famous creative overhaul that salvaged the Disney+ series before its first season aired, crediting the studio’s willingness to scrap millions of dollars of filmed material as the decision that saved the show.
“It’s an odd one to talk about, and I don’t know what was going on behind the scenes,” Cox said, acknowledging there was “an admirable effort” to approach the material differently in the original version. He explained that the initial approach tried to separate the Disney+ series from the original Netflix show by changing its tone, but he and D’Onofrio quickly concluded that distancing it so far from the flagship series would strip away exactly what viewers loved. The two actors flagged those concerns to Marvel directly.
The studio listened. Original showrunners Matt Corman and Chris Ord were replaced by Dario Scardapane, and the directing team of Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead took over behind the camera. The cast was also expanded: Deborah Ann Woll and Elden Henson, who played Karen Page and Foggy Nelson on Netflix’s Daredevil, were invited back into the fold.
The losses from the overhaul were real, too. Cox revealed on the same podcast that Tom Hiddleston had been set to direct an episode of the original 18-episode Season 1 plan. “Even though the changes that were made to that show were needed, necessary, and made it much better,” Cox said, “he was going to direct episode 12 or something. We were already on the phone collaborating, we had ideas.”
At the Season 1 premiere, Cox put the studio’s gamble in plain terms: “I don’t know many companies that would do that — that takes a lot of personnel, it takes a lot of money, so it’s so cool to be standing here today and feeling thrilled with the product, that we ended up in the place we wanted to be.”
For Season 2, Cox and D’Onofrio were formally credited as executive producers alongside showrunner Scardapane and Marvel president Kevin Feige — a recognition of the influence they wielded during Season 1’s rebuild. Cox confirmed on the same podcast that Marvel has directed him to keep his focus on the show rather than broader MCU crossovers, saying: “Marvel have been clear with me for now, at least, that I’m focusing on the show, that’s our focus. That really is the truth.” Season 2 is currently streaming on Disney+, and Season 3 is already in production.
