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When production halted on Marvel Studios’ Daredevil: Born Again during the 2023 WGA strike, it offered the studio a chance to look at what was, and what wasn’t, working about the Disney+ series — which led to some changes behind the scenes, such as the addition of Dario Scardapane as showrunner, and some changes in front of the camera, including the return of Deborah Ann Woll and Elden Henson as Karen Page and Foggy Nelson, Matt Murdock’s two best pals.

“That was actually one of the first things I said to the bosses,” the showrunner told Empire magazine about bringing those characters back into the fold for the new series. “You can’t do this show without Karen and Foggy. They’re Matt’s family. They’re the heart of his world. You can’t take them out without explaining why, and if that explanation doesn’t ring true, don’t take them out.”

Scardapane was adamant about this, he claims: “I was willing to lose a job over this one… Because Season 3 of the Netflix show ended with a dream, with the names on that napkin. If you don’t pay that off, you’re not giving your characters context. You can’t ignore that dream.”

For those who don’t remember, the final episode of the final season of the Netflix Daredevil series ends with Foggy suggesting that he, Matt, and Karen should form their own law firm together; he holds up a napkin that reads, “Nelson, Murdock & Page.”

Trying to do the show without those characters was, in its way, a symbol of how the first attempt to make Born Again went awry, Sacardapane feels. “It was much less the world we knew, and more trying to blaze a new trail,” he suggested, “but in doing so, they’d forgotten some things that really were necessary to the engine of the story.”

Daredevil: Born Again begins March 4 on Disney+.

Fear not, we have the essentials when it comes to Marvel's Daredevil. From the best Daredevil stories of all time, to a guide to watching Daredevil, a comprehensive guide to Marvel Studios' Daredevil: Born Again on Disney+, Marvel's Daredevil actors, ranked from Charlie Cox to Ben Affleck and even Rex Smith, how Frank Miller accidentally killed a Daredevil cartoon (and Marvel killed a book to avoid pissing him off), and even that time we caught Daredevil actor Charlie Cox sneaking into New York Comic Con as Bluey.