Marvel Studios and Disney+ will bring “Daredevil: Born Again” to a close after its third season, according to Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, ending a series that had revived one of the studio’s most acclaimed street-level heroes. Showrunner Dario Scardapane, who has overseen the series since it began, has parted ways with Marvel after his contract expired and was not renewed, even as the season remains unfinished behind the scenes.
Showrunner exits mid-post-production
Scardapane’s departure is notable timing. Season 3 wrapped filming roughly two months ago and is currently in post-production, and it remains unclear who will oversee the remaining editing and finishing work, The Hollywood Reporter noted. Scardapane addressed the news obliquely on Instagram, thanking Marvel and the cast and crew for a season he called “something very, very, very special,” without directly commenting on his exit.
The final season is expected to deliver a long-teased team-up, bringing Charlie Cox’s Matt Murdock, whose storyline finds him dealing with jail time, together with Jessica Jones and other street-level heroes in the vein of Netflix’s 2017 miniseries “The Defenders.” Disney+ has set the season for release in March 2027.
A ratings drop behind the decision
Reporting on the cancellation points to a steep decline in audience numbers as the main driver. Season 2 reportedly logged about 46% fewer total views and more than 54% fewer hours watched than season 1 across comparable five-week tracking windows, per figures cited by GamesRadar+. That slide came despite a largely positive critical reception, with one review calling the second season “easily one of the most enjoyable mature superhero series ever made.”
The show stars Vincent D’Onofrio as crime boss Wilson Fisk opposite Cox’s Murdock, and season 2 brought back Krysten Ritter as Jessica Jones. “Born Again” carried forward a devoted fanbase built during Netflix’s original “Daredevil” run from 2015 to 2018, a series still regarded by many Marvel fans as one of the studio’s most grounded and adult-oriented television efforts, and one that Marvel revived for Disney+ in 2025 specifically to recapture that older, R-rated tone after fan pressure.
What it means for Marvel’s Disney+ slate
The decision follows the recent cancellation of “Wonder Man” after a single season, and with no new live-action Marvel series currently on the schedule to follow “Born Again,” some industry observers see the moves as a sign that Disney+ is pulling back on television output in favor of fewer, higher-budget projects. That would mark a significant shift from the platform’s early years, when Marvel released as many as four or five live-action series annually following the 2021 launch of “WandaVision” and “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.”
Marvel has not issued a formal statement addressing either the ending or Scardapane’s exit. The studio has previously let other Disney+ titles, including “Loki” and “What If…?”, run for two or three seasons before wrapping, so a planned three-season arc for “Born Again” is not unusual on its own. What stands out is the abruptness of the showrunner change so close to release, which has fueled speculation among fans about behind-the-scenes tension even though neither side has confirmed a rift.
For now, season 3 stands as the planned conclusion to “Born Again,” with the finished product due to reach audiences next spring regardless of who ultimately finishes steering it through post-production.
