Sometimes art imitates life, like when Iman Vellani started as a real-world Marvel fan before she was cast as Ms. Marvel, a character obsessed with heroes in-universe. But sometimes life imitates life, like when Disney+ announced that its Daredevil reboot, Daredevil: Born Again, would end after Season 3. Just what is it about this hero that won’t let him have more than three tries in any series, no matter how popular it is?
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Daredevil: Born Again will end after Season 3, and current showrunner Dario Scardapane has left the series. Showrunners leave shows all the time — in fact, Scardapane took the role from Matt Corman and Chris Ord after Marvel decided the series needed a retooling — but Season 3 only wrapped filming two months ago, so the series is in the middle of post-production.
It’s unclear whether this exit played a role in the series not being renewed, but it’s hard to ignore the obvious pattern here, as the Netflix Daredevil series was also canceled after Season 3. Three seasons is still impressive for a Disney+ series: the only other MCU live-action series to get more than one season was Loki, which ended after Season 2. But what could the repetition mean? Is Daredevil only relevant for three seasons before he needs retooling?
This announcement doesn’t mean that Matt Murdock’s future is completely hopeless. Maybe his story will continue in other New York-based Marvel stories, like a future Spider-Man movie (he already appeared in No Way Home) or even a spinoff series about a different hero, like how WandaVision had a sequel series with Agatha All Along.
This is obviously a disappointing update for Daredevil fans, but the series had a good run across two different streaming services over more than a decade, and Season 3 of Born Again is still coming soon. And if this cancellation is following a pattern, then maybe Daredevil’s revival could be repeated, too. They’ve tried to keep Matt Murdock down once, and he came back with a vengeance. Can he be born again, again?
