"Purely a financial issue": Daredevil showrunner justifies the budget of the OG show in comparison to Daredevil: Born Again

Daredevil: Born Again is the revival of the 2015 series that streamed on Netflix between 2015 and 2022. Netflix funded Daredevil for three seasons that streamed on the platform between 2015 and 2018. It was not until 2022 that the original series and the rest of the Netflix Marvel shows, like Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, The Punisher, and Iron Fist, moved to Disney+.

Of the five Netflix Marvel shows, Daredevil is regarded as the most fan-favorite series. This decade-old series is renowned for its brutal fight scenes, the most iconic one being the fight between The Devil of Hell's Kitchen and some thugs of the Russian mob that abducted a kid. This long-take fight scene was inspired by the hallway fight scene from Park Chan-wook's 2003 South Korean thriller Oldboy.

After this, long-take fight scenes involving Charlie Cox's Daredevil in narrow spaces became a regular in the next two seasons. However, despite this, ever since Daredevil's integration into the mainline MCU since 2021's Hawkeye and Spider-Man: No Way Home, fans have noticed a shift. It is the increase in the budget. This is especially observable by the inclusion of more stunts.

The original Netflix series featured very few stunts, while The Man Without Fear's appearances in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, Echo, and Daredevil: Born Again feature more stunts. In Born Again, we can see Daredevil using his billy club to swing across the building. This was noticed by a fan on their X (formerly Twitter) account. The post had this caption:

"crazy how daredevil started becoming more agile and acrobatic/moving more like comic daredevil ever since he got into the mcu (pls dont twist my words. i know hes canon in the mcu, but u know exactly what i mean when i say mcu) here's a compilation 🙂"

This post garnered the attention of Steven DeKnight, who served as the showrunner of the first season of the original Netflix universe. His response to the fan's post was,

"It’s purely a financial issue. On the Netflix show, we didn’t have the money to do this. If we had, we would have."

What did his comment mean?

Based on what Steven DeKnight said, the overall budget of the first season is why there is a difference between the original Netflix series and Daredevil: Born Again. The budget for thirteen episodes of the first season of the original show was $56 million, meaning the cost for filming each episode of the first season was around $3.3 million. This is why the first three seasons of Daredevil focused more on the fight sequences rather than stunts.

Conversely, the entirety of Daredevil: Born Again cost around $200 million, meaning each of the 9 episodes cost roughly $22.2 million. Thus, the makers behind Born Again had the freedom to plan elaborate fight scenes and stunts for the series.

While Born Again's excellent fight scenes don't take anything away from what came before. Despite their budgetary constraints, the people behind the original Netflix series were able to design iconic fight scenes. A limited budget can encourage artists to think creatively, and the three seasons of Netflix's Daredevil prove it.

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The original series and six episodes of Daredevil: Born Again are streaming on Disney+.

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