‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Showrunner Says Episode 5 Will Be One of Season 2’s “Shining Moments” After [SPOILER]’s Uncertain Fate

Editor’s note: The following contains major spoilers for Daredevil: Born Again Season 2.

The Marvel series Daredevil: Born Again is at the halfway point of its second season, with a third season in production. Daredevil (Charlie Cox) is being hunted, and Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio) has just lost Vanessa. Showrunner and Executive Producer Dario Scarpadane and Executive Producer Sana Amanat have carefully crafted the reboot post-Netflix. Between character development and arcs, balanced with new and fresh action sequences, the production team of Born Again has stepped up its game. Season 2 is asking, ‘How much can you take until you break’?

What goes into telling the story of superheroes, villains, and vigilantes? Collider recently spoke with Scarpadane and Amanat about the conversations and themes that will surround the season finale, Kingpin’s unchecked power, putting Daredevil through tests, and working with stunt coordinator Phil Silvera to give the audience entertaining action.

The Blurred Lines Between Daredevil and Kingpin

“We are heading at 100 miles an hour to a very specific moment.”

Image via Disney+

COLLIDER: What conversation do you think or do you hope fans are having after this season ends?

DARIO SCARDAPANE: I think after season two ends, and you haven’t seen the final frames, you know, I think that the conversation should be like, “Wow, that was a hell of a ride. And then it should be like, who’s the villain? Who’s the hero? And what are they?” The consequences of both their decisions, I think, are really nuanced this year. And I think we end it in one of those places where it’s like, hold on, what am I supposed to think? Like, who’s the good guy? Who’s the bad guy?

SANA AMANAT: Well, yeah, I mean, I think we were able to do something this season that we haven’t been able to do before, which is really exciting. And also, it’s a fully realized battle between these two big figures that we’ve seen versions of before. But this is fully it. It is Fisk. It’s Kingpin versus Daredevil in the biggest of ways.

SCARDAPANE: We are heading at 100 miles an hour to a very specific moment.

Which ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Character Has Control of the City?

“It comes from this almost jealous place of wanting the love and affection of New Yorkers.”

Image via Disney+

Fisk isn’t just a crime boss anymore, right? He’s reshaping the system from inside City Hall. Was the goal to show how dangerous he becomes when he doesn’t have to hide?

SCARDAPANE: Yes. I mean, the idea of a legitimate criminal. He’s been legitimized. He has all the trappings of power. And then when you think about vigilantism, okay, vigilantes are outlaws. But what happens when the police force and the system is illegal and corrupt? And those questions of like, I think we were always making the joke, you know, when the system is illegal, only outlaws can be heroes. So those weird ironies we really wanted to play with, and Fisk, I mean, Fisk has the key to the city. So literally. So he’s way more dangerous.

AMANAT: Yeah. We’ve never seen him like this before. It’s all he’s ever wanted to. Not just necessarily to have power for power’s sake, but to be able to be beloved by the city, to be also a type of hero of the city in the way Daredevil is. I think that’s what’s so interesting is it comes from this almost jealous place of wanting the love and affection of New Yorkers.

SCARDAPANE: 100%. He wants to be adored.

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‘Daredevil: Born Again’s Near-Perfect Rotten Tomatoes Score Is Its Best Since 2018

The first episode is out now.

By the end of the fourth episode, both Matt and Bullseye are being hunted. Did you approach the remainder of the season like Matt is regaining control or like he’s losing the city in a different way?

SCARDAPANE: Okay, so maybe he’s winning the city by losing control. I mean, I think the second half of the season, as you know by the end of episode four, all bets are off. Like, there’s no coming back from that. So, Matt, at that point, I don’t even know how to explain it in the sense that he’s going to be pushed to a place that there’s only one thing he can do to win. And the more that we push him, Sana uses the term, the more Matt’s on tilt, the better. And I think that the second half of the season was 100% about how far will these two go?

Crafting Amazing Daredevil Stunts and the Character Consequences of Violence

“Let’s start with a bang, let’s go in, let’s go big.”

Image via Disney+

The action in the first four episodes is unbelievable.

SCARDAPANE: There are a couple of cool scenes.

Just a few. And I feel like it’s turned up a notch as well. Was there anything you wanted to either do specifically with the action sequences that maybe you didn’t get a chance to do in season one?

SCARDAPANE: Always. I mean, I think as we look into season three, there’s stuff that, well, I mean, there’s a couple of pitches on the table that are amazeballs. Yeah. I mean, working with somebody like Phil Silvera, our action director, stunt coordinator. We’re always collectively trying to raise the bar. And, you know, we only had him for three episodes last season. There was a different attitude towards action until we got in and started rejiggering things. This season, as you can tell from the first episode, we’re action forward. We’re like, let’s start with a bang, let’s go in, let’s go big. And yeah, there’s always something you want to try.

AMANAT: Yeah, my favorite part about it is like, I love action sequences because it’s an extension of who these characters are, and the fight style in itself is always so fun to explore. Daredevil has a very distinct fighting style. And also, of course, we love to do oners in the show. And there’s a very high bar set with the old show, which, of course, Phil Silvera did. So he’s trying to outdo himself constantly. I was really proud of, like, what we were able to do with Bullseye. The biggest thing for me as a fan was, like, the way that he moves is so fascinating to me, and utilizing that within an action sequence could be so awesome. So we have different challenges from many perspectives, and as we progress across the course of the season, you’ll see a little bit more. So it was a lot of fun, but it was hard to pull all of them off in the time that we had.

SCARDAPANE: And we’re getting ready to do it all again, all over again.

Well, the result of a lot of that action was Fisk accidentally putting Vanessa in harm’s way, which is brutal and tragic. Does losing her potentially make him more dangerous, or does this finally crack him?

SCARDAPANE: So this is the hard question to answer, because the very next episode, Episode 5, I think, is one of our shining moments. And what happens to Fisk internally, and what happens to Daredevil internally. You know, one finds loss, the other finds forgiveness, amps them both up. And, spoiler, losing Vanessa means there are no checks and balances on the man. There’s no humanity left. You know what I mean? Except we always say there are two people that Fisk can truly be himself around. One is Vanessa, and the other is Matt Murdock. So like.

AMANAT: But he did not lose her in [episode] four. There’s something that happens in five.

SCARDAPANE: Five is where that story is told. I don’t know how to navigate that. Five is an amazing episode. [Episode 4] is action-packed. But [Episode 5] is one of those episodes that, you know, we’re jumping back and forth in time. We’re in two storylines that are really, really heavy.

Season 2 of Daredevil: Born Again is streaming on Disney+.