Did Daredevil: Born Again take things too far? The Disney Plus revival of the Netflix classic came back swinging with a death that had fans floored.
Daredevil: Born Again has gotten off to a bang with the first two episodes. Fans have already begun raving about the series’ tone and atmosphere, praising it as a true return to form for the Netflix series after having been gone for so long. The project has taken incredibly bold swings in just its opening act. Though some may consider some of those choices a bridge too far.
As anyone who has watched Daredevil: Born Again could likely guess, that controversial decision was the choice to kill Elden Henson’s Foggy Nelson. The character was widely beloved in the Netflix incarnation, and the decision to focus on his death so heavily in episode 1 is one that is surely going to divide fans as the series continues on. However, it seems as though that death wasn’t always part of the plan.
How Daredevil: Born Again Changed In Production
Before the release of Daredevil: Born Again, showrunner Dario Scardapane spoke on what exactly he did to the series when he was brought on to helm. While he didn’t directly address Foggy Nelson’s death, he did bring up that the first few minutes of episode 1 were changed the most. This potentially means that the character’s death wasn’t originally planned for the show or, if it was, Elden Henson wasn’t planned to appear on screen.
“Quite a bit lived,” Scardapane explained during a recent chat with Collider. “The thing is, and I think Sana can speak to this, they had that time during the strike to take a look at what they had, and those six episodes were super solid – I saw them way later. They were super solid, but the issue was bringing up the themes and feelings that we loved from the old show and context.”
“I’ll say that over and over again. That first episode is the one that takes us into the run, and we needed to have those first 15 minutes of that first episode to set the stage. What we ended up doing was the amount of additional material was essentially three episodes worth, and then quite a bit of interstitial material inside the body of the middle six.”
From leaks prior to the overhaul of Daredevil: Born Again, it’s likely that Foggy Nelson’s death was planned from the start, and would likely remain a lasting factor throughout the series. However, Dario Scardapane’s big change as showrunner was likely changing it so that he died on-screen from Bullseye, instead of prior reports that he would have died from cancer off-screen.
Of course, with only episode 1 and 2 currently out, it’s not possible for fans to fully mourn the loss of Foggy Nelson and understand his death in the wider context of Daredevil: Born Again. Though regardless of if Dario Scardapane wanted things to happen that way or not, it’s the first of many big swings the series hopes to take on Disney Plus. Let’s just hope they pay off.
Daredevil: Born Again is now streaming on Disney Plus. Stay tuned for the latest news regarding the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more content!
