Ahead of the release of Daredevil: Born Again, producer Sana Amanat is teasing the return of a key player from Daredevil season 2 and its successor, The Defenders -- but is it possible?
It's been a long race to the finish line for Daredevil: Born Again. Not only was the show severely delayed due to the Hollywood strikes, but it also juggled writers, directors, and even showrunners at the request of Marvel Studios' upper echelon. There have been plenty of conflicting reports about why the first season required such extensive reshoots and script rewrites. In short, it sounds like creatives -- and even the main cast -- decided to make it more of a gritty, action-packed homage to its Netflix predecessor rather than the typical MCU superhero comedy. After all, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law wasn't exactly a hit.
Now, it seems like everyone is on board with Born Again's new direction ahead of its March 4 premiere, which will see Charlie Cox's Matt Murdock returning to Hell's Kitchen alongside familiar faces like Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson), Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll), and even Frank Castle/The Punisher (Jon Bernthal). From what we've seen so far, Daredevil's archenemies, Kingpin (Vincent D'Onofrio) will act as this season's primary antagonist, but I can't help but wonder if showrunners will resurrect another enemy from Matt's past: The Hand. Because from the sound of it, the Black Sky could be coming back for more.
If the sexual tension between Matt and his ex-situationship, Elektra (Elodie Yung), didn't have you blushing and kicking your feet, I don't know what will. Sorry, Karen -- yours and Matt's chemistry isn't nearly as, ahem, electric.
Obviously, Matt and Elektra's love story didn't get much of a happy ending in Daredevil, as Elektra's death and resurrection turned her into something of a zombified ninja within the crime organization The Hand didn't give the couple much time to reconcile. Elektra's fate post-The Defenders remains open-ended, however, meaning an MCU Elektra project -- or even a principal role in Born Again season 2 -- might be in the cards. And according to Amanat, it's been "in the back of [his] head" for awhile now.
"One-hundred percent it's in the back of our heads. Eventually we'll try to figure out a bit more with that." Amanat said to Entertainment Weekly when touching on the possibility of a potential Elektra comeback. Given that Daredevil: Born Again has already been green-lit for a second season on Disney+, Elektra's return seems imminent. There's also the off-chance that Amanat is hiding something -- an Elektra cameo, perhaps? I mean, this is the MCU we're working with.
Not only is Elektra one of the Marvel Universe's most intriguing street-level antiheroes, but on a personal level, she's also hugely important to Matt. I would argue that Elektra is the only person Matt has ever truly loved, as she not only understood, but encouraged his double-life as the Devil -- a part of Matt he himself struggles to accept. That, and their boxing ring scene in Daredevil season 2 had me sweating. Profusely. IYKYK.
Born Again is going to have to address the Elektra of it all one way or another, and Amanat's update seems promising. Elektra was absolutely integral to the Netflix series, and if Born Again hopes to recapture some of that same magic, I think bringing back this character would be a useful building block to getting us there. For now, we'll just have to wait and see what Amanat, Kevin Feige & Co. have in store.