Daredevil‘s original showrunner, Steven DeKnight, has accused Disney of using a notorious Disney Channel tactic to pay the cast and crew of Daredevil: Born Again less than they deserved. DeKnight was the first showrunner who served on Netflix’s and Marvel’s Daredevil series. The show follows Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox), who serves as a lawyer during the day but takes on the mantle of the vigilante Daredevil at night to protect Hell’s Kitchen from organized crime. Daredevil earned high critical acclaim during its run, especially for the performances of Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio. Despite its success, the show was canceled after just three seasons.
However, after Disney regained the licenses for Marvel’s Netflix series, it brought Cox’s Daredevil into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and announced he would receive another series, Daredevil: Born Again. The series will see Cox, D’Onofrio, and Jon Bernthal reprising their original Daredevil roles as Daredevil, Kingpin, and The Punisher, respectively.
Despite several original stars returning, Daredevil: Born Again has been marketed as a reboot. Cox himself has stated that it is a whole new series and not a fourth season or continuation of Daredevil. This hasn’t fully relieved the confusion and skepticism over whether it’s an actual reboot or continuation, though, since it’s not a remake and seemingly features some of the same characters as we knew them in Daredevil.
Now DeKnight is alleging that Daredevil: Born Again isn’t a reboot but a Disney scam.
Steven DeKnight accuses Disney of pulling a familiar Disney Channel trick
DeKnight alleged via social media that Disney’s Daredevil: Born Again reboot was an “old Disney scam.” His allegations came in response to similar accusations from an IATSE grip who claimed to have worked on Marvel’s Netflix series. The grip explained that IATSE contracts often require employees to wait until the third season of a show to receive full benefits and pay. Disney notoriously frequently cancels shows in the first, second, or third seasons, then reboots them under a slightly tweaked name and brings the crew and creatives back to stage one pay.
DeKnight reshared the grip’s statement, agreeing that Daredevil: Born Again was an example of this type of scam and needed to be addressed by the guilds and labor unions.
He later clarified his statement a bit more, explaining that he wasn’t upset by the fact that the show was being rebooted. However, he was upset because he believed the show wasn’t an actual reboot but just a title change. DeKnight also expressed concern that he may not be compensated for content from Daredevil that Daredevil: Born Again might be taking and reusing.
DeKnight’s allegations raise an interesting conversation about Disney’s methods and practices. After all, this isn’t the first time Disney has been accused of engaging in this type of scam. Disney Channel star Joey Bragg recently made similar accusations against the company amid the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Bragg starred in the Disney show Liv and Maddie, which Disney canceled after three seasons and rebooted for a fourth season under the new name Liv and Maddie: Cali Style. Bragg explained that the crew is paid 88% of scale (essentially minimum wage) until the show exceeds three seasons, at which point they should receive 100%. However, instead of giving Liv and Maddie a fourth season, Disney unnecessarily rebranded the show as a new series and returned to paying the crew less.
Giving weight to Bragg’s claims is that Disney has rebranded more than one of its shows during its history. The Sweet Life of Zack and Cody and Hannah Montana were canceled and rebooted, with the new shows simply being continuations of the past ones, raising the question of what the purpose was, if not to deliberately get around fair payment. Disney has also been accused of using other tactics, such as wholly deleting streaming shows from its library, to avoid paying workers residuals. This is one of the major studios responsible for the ongoing strikes.
However, even if Disney has been using the rebranding scam, it’s difficult to say whether Daredevil: Born Again is an example of it. DeKnight does not seem involved in the show, which is still in development. So he can’t know for certain that the series is a continuation of Daredevil. From what the cast and crew have said, the show appears to be a reboot, considering it will be much less mature than Daredevil and is expected to tackle a separate story. DeKnight is correct, though, that the show is a bit tricky to label right now as a reboot or continuation, and it may be more accurate to say it’s a bit of both.
Still, these accusations are alarming and could illustrate another issue the labor unions must tackle. With cancellations becoming more frequent, workers shouldn’t have to wait for an unlikely third season to receive the pay and benefits they are owed. Additionally, hopefully, Daredevil: Born Again will give credit where credit is due if it does draw from the original Daredevil show.
(Via Entertainment Weekly, featured image: Netflix)
