Having entered its 10th day, the Writers Guild of America continues to affect numerous TV shows, many of which have been forced to halt production. That includes Daredevil: Born Again, which suspended filming on Monday in New York. Well, now the upcoming Marvel TV show has had to press pause once again, but in the midst of this, a popular rumor concerning Vincent D’Onofrio’s Wilson Fisk, a.k.a. Kingpin is gaining steam thanks to some set photos.
First things first, Deadline reports that Born Again has shut down production for the rest of the week, and it’s unclear when cameras will resume rolling. WGA members started picketing outside the show’s shoot at Silvercup East on Monday, resulting in work for that day concluding at 1 pm ET without any filming getting done, and the picketers’ continued efforts have led to this indefinite delay. Born Again began filming in early March and was expected to stretch until late November, though because of the strike, that will undoubtedly result in the timeframe changing.
Prior to Daredevil: Born Again shutting down production though, Twitter user @jadames1775 shared some photos from the set, including Vincent D’Onofrio posing with some fans. If you look closely, you’ll see the actor is wearing an American flag pin on his suit, something a political candidate often displays when they’re running for office. This seemingly strengthens the rumor that’s been floating around for several months that Born Again will see Wilson Fisk running for mayor of New York City, just like his comic book counterpart did a few years back.
Assuming this is the case, and assuming he wins the election, this could spell bad news for more heroes besides Charlie Cox’s Daredevil. When Fisk became The Big Apple’s mayor in the comics, he immediately passed a bill declaring all vigilantes as criminals and tasked law enforcement with apprehending superheroes with just as much force as would be applied to supervillains. At the same time, he retained his Kingpin title and continued to work various crime bosses in the shadows, thus amassing more power than he’d ever wielded before. Vincent D’Onofrio’s character following suit could lead to him becoming a bigger player in the MCU.
In December 2021, three years after Netflix’s Daredevil ended and just five days after Charlie Cox reprised Matt Murdock in Spider-Man: No Way Home, D’Onofrio reprised Kingpin in the Hawkeye finale. Both he and Cox (who fully suited back up as Daredevil in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law) will return in Echo, and then we’ll see them in Daredevil: Born Again, where their castmates include Jon Bernthal reprising Frank Castle/The Punisher and Sandrine Holt taking over as Vanessa Fisk, among others. Matt Corman and Chris Ord are attached as the head writers and executive producers, but they’re no longer on set due to the writers strike.
Daredevil: Born Again, which will consist of 18 episodes in its first season, is tentatively expected to premiere to Disney+ subscribers in early 2024, but the strike may necessitate that drop be pushed back. While we wait for more updates on the show’s status, look through our 2023 TV schedule to see what’s currently on the air or streaming.
