Matt Murdock's best friends and law associates, Foggy Nelson and Karen Page, were almost left out of the upcoming MCU show Daredevil: Born Again. However, showrunner Dario Scardapane was "willing to lose a job over this one", as he fought to keep the characters in the new show.
"That was actually one of the first things I said to the bosses. 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," he explained in a recent interview with Empire.
The show was originally planned almost like a reboot for Charlie Cox's blind vigilante, but Scardapane didn't want to leave the three seasons of Netflix's fan-favorite show entirely behind. "It was much less the world we knew, and more trying to blaze a new trail, but in doing so, they'd forgotten some things that really were necessary to the engine of the story," he said of the original plans for the show.
During the writers' strike in 2023, The Punisher showrunner and directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead overhauled the production, reinstating some key elements including Elden Henson and Deborah Ann Woll's characters.
"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," he argued.
Daredevil season 3 ended with Matt, Foggy, and Karen in a bar planning to turn their firm into Nelson, Murdock & Page. It was the dream of three close friends that the MCU show will respect, while delivering an exciting new adventure now within the confines of the superhero franchise.
Daredevil: Born Again releases on March 4 in the US and March 5 in the UK. For more, check out our list of all upcoming Marvel movies and TV shows.
