Vincent D’Onofrio has played the pivotal role of Daredevil villain Wilson “Kingpin” Fisk since 2015. In that time, we’ve seen his character go from the shadows to leading as New York’s Mayor in Daredevil: Born Again, which received mixed reviews as, behind the scenes, it underwent creative changes midway through filming.
Back in 2023, strikes halted the production of the first season of Daredevil: Born Again. Upon reviewing the footage, Marvel made the decision to retool the entire series to ensure it was a product that fans of the Netflix show would be happy with.
D’Onofrio said that the show, pre-overhaul, was one that he and fellow cast member Charlie Cox didn’t want to make, telling Dark Horizons:
“I appreciate what you’re saying. It’s a very kind of romantic view of it. It was really more about Charlie and I and a couple of the producers wanting to make a kick-ass Daredevil show. And then we realized eventually that the writers that we were working with didn’t have that in mind.”
D’Onofrio praised the Marvel executives, including Kevin Feige and Louis D’Esposito, for backing them creatively with an overhaul after the strikes. When discussing the shooting of Born Again Season Three, currently underway for a 2027 release, D’Onofrio insisted that Born Again Season Two was the show they wanted to make in the first place.
“We as a group of creatives had meetings with the bosses, and because those guys are creatives, they joined us in this endeavour to turn things around. One of the things about Marvel, even to this day, something that happened yesterday when we were shooting the third season, these guys, Feige and D’Esposito, they back us 100% creatively. They give us complete freedom. They never have once told us to back off, ever. They just keep saying, make it better, make it better.
That’s how that first season came out the way that it did. We were in a situation where we had to sort of crank what we had shot, reshoot some things, and start to make more Daredevils with the additional episodes that we had. When that season was finished, we felt obligated, and all of us wanted to just make an incredible Daredevil, straight-up season from scratch. And we had all of this now history from the mayorship and all of poor little Daredevil’s problems to make a kick-ass season. And I think that’s why the second season ended up to be, I agree with you, pretty kick-ass.”
Fans are excited to see where Marvel will take these characters after Season 2’s ending, with Wilson Fisk having left New York and Matt Murdock in prison for his crimes as the blind vigilante Daredevil.
Discover more from
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
