Netflix's Daredevil Showrunner Criticizes Disney Plus Series As "Old Disney Scam"

Steven DeKnight, showrunner for Netflix's Marvel Daredevil series, criticized the upcoming Disney+ show as an "old Disney scam" that may hinder the financial rights of the original series' creators. The Disney+ series, titled Daredevil: Born Again, focuses on Charlie Cox's character, Daredevil, also known as attorney Matt Murdock by day and a crimefighter by night. Vince D'Onofrio reprises his role as mob boss Wilson Fisk, also known as Kingpin.

DeKnight, who led the first season of Netflix's Daredevil, which premiered in 2015 and spanned three seasons, responded to a post on X by a grip named Thomas, who is a part of the IATSE union representing film, TV, and stage crew workers.

Thomas criticized the renaming of the series as "a scam," intended to reset guild contract terms to the levels of Season 1. DeKnight agreed on X, stating, "It's an old Disney scam where they slightly rename a series to reset contract terms back to first season. Needs to be addressed by all the guilds/unions and crushed!"

DeKnight continued, "To be clear, I can't wait to see Charlie Cox and the amazing @VincentDonofrio reprise their iconic roles. But to claim this is a complete reboot and you don't have to pay the original creatives is some corporate shenanigans, to say the least."

But not everyone involved in the production seems to necessarily be on the same page there. Charlie Cox, who plays Daredevil, told NME in an interview last year, "This has to be a reincarnation, it has to be different, otherwise why are we doing it?"

The cast of Daredevil: Born Again also includes Margarita Levieva, Sandrine Holt, Michael Gandolfini, Arty Froushan, Nikki M. James, and Jon Bernthal reprising his role as the Punisher.

Daredevil: Born Again had been in production in and around New York, with three months completed out of an eight-month shoot for an 18-episode season on Disney+ before suspending production due to the WGA strike.