Daredevil: Born Again Will Officially End After Season 3 As Showrunner Dario Scardapane Exits Series

Daredevil is hanging up his mask after three seasons on Disney+.

via: CBM

The decision comes around two months after Season 3 wrapped filming, with Marvel "quietly" parting ways with showrunner Dario Scardapane, whose contract was up and was not renewed.

"The parting of ways is eyebrow-raising as it means that Scardapane is exiting the show in the middle of post-production. It is unclear who will see the show through to completion. One source said post-production is the final stages."

Though disappointing, the news isn't entirely unexpected. We had heard that Born Again would run for "at least" three seasons, but despite being very popular with fans and critics, the show was never a major ratings hit for Marvel Television, and it's now very clear that the studio is pulling back on the amount of streaming projects it puts into development.

Even so, THR also reports that there are another "three to five live-action shows in development, and sources say it just greenlit a spy thriller referred to as Zodiac."

"It is unclear to what the title refers, but the most notable Marvel comics reference is to a criminal organization headed by a villain named Scorpio that featured bad guys themed to the constellations. In the comics, it was known for going head-to-head against S.H.I.E.L.D."

Matt Murdock's Disney+ adventures may be coming to an end, but we'd be very surprised if Charlie Cox and Vincent D'Onofrio (at the very least) didn't make the jump to the big screen at some point.

Scardapane was asked if he could drop any hints about the next villain the Man Without Fear will encounter in a recent interview.

"You know, there are people who are like, 'oh God, Matt and Fisk,' but I actually feel that Matt and Fisk are getting closer and closer together as time goes by, in terms of, if you look at where they both end up at the end of season two, it’s easy to kind of start thinking about. Their battles are more revealing of who they are, and I think that they’re heading towards that set of revelations getting sorely tested, not exactly by each other."

A possible hint that Daredevil and the Kingpin will put their differences aside to battle a common enemy? This does happen in Ed Brubaker's The Devil in Cell Block-D storyline, which could mean season 3 will see a new character take up the mantle of Daredevil.

Scardapane also responded to the rumors that both Elektra (who has obviously now been confirmed) and Colleen Wing could return.

"The best way I could put this without giving too much away is that what we do when we’re in the writer’s room is we go and look at some of the iconic comic book runs. We look at a lot of the things that seem to make sense in the story that we’re moving forward, and then when the time comes to bring a character in or to add a storyline, we have our wish list. Everybody you have mentioned so far is on that wish list. There’s the stuff that I would love to do, there’s the stuff that they’re doing in the larger MCU and sometimes those align and sometimes they don’t.

The world that we’re doing with this show is very Frank Miller-esque, for lack of a better word. Chip [Zdarsky] and [Brian Michael] Bendis, those artists and writers, they have a very kind of particular tone and a particular sweet spot, and a lot of the characters that you’ve mentioned work in that sweet spot."

Deadline has shared additional insights, revealing that Daredevil: Born Again's cast was informed this morning that the series would not return for a fourth season. As previously reported, Marvel Studios decided not to renew showrunner Dario Scardapane’s contract, meaning post-production is underway without him at the helm. None of the trades is currently aware of who is steering the ship in his absence.

While the series received positive reviews, the viewership just wasn’t there. According to the trade, "Daredevil: Born Again came out strong ratings-wise in its first season, racking up the best series premiere on Disney+ for 2025, with 7.5 million viewers worldwide in its first five days. US viewership dropped about 50% in Season 2." That’s a significant decline. 

Blame poor marketing, a first season that was comprised of two conflicting visions (due to a creative overhaul), or a miscalculation on Marvel's part that more than just die-hard fans wanted a follow-up to a Netflix series that ended in 2018. Whatever the case may be, Daredevil: Born Again was originally announced as an 18-episode single season, so it has managed to exceed that and at least match the original show's run of three seasons.

Interestingly, while both we and the cast only learned of this news today, scooper @MyTimeToShineH has claimed that Marvel Studios made the decision midway through shooting. As a result, "they're killing off a lot of important characters" in the build to what is now a series finale.

Where does this leave Daredevil? Charlie Cox made his official MCU debut in 2021's Spider-Man: No Way Home, and later had cameo roles in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law and Echo (Vincent D'Onofrio's Kingpin appeared in the latter and Hawkeye). Hopefully, Kevin Feige hasn't lost faith in the characters and will take note of how much fans want to see Daredevil share the screen with Tom Holland's Spider-Man.

If not, it will be a real shame to say goodbye to the Man Without Fear again. The Punisher made a huge impact in Spider-Man: Brand New Day after previously being relegated to streaming, so there's no reason Daredevil can't do the same...