The road from page to small screen for Daredevil: Born Again was rife with tweaks and rewrites, but it turns out the series that made it to air ultimately had one episode left untouched: Episode 5, the one that, believe it or not, just so happens to be star Charlie Cox’s “least favorite” of the entire season.
“I dunno if this is of interest, but I will say this amongst all of this, there was one episode we didn’t change at all,” Cox explained in a recent interview with The Playlist.
“It’s the episode in the bank, and that was part of the original [shoot]. We shot that before the strike. That was part of the original [draft], and just for my money, I wasn’t into it.”
Cox revealed to the outlet that he “pushed back against it as much as I felt was possible.” The episode in question features Cox’s character Matt Murdock (also known as the titular Daredevil) getting caught in the throes of a bank robbery while attempting to land a loan for the law firm he shares with partners Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson) and Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll).
“That feels like a 1970s game,” Cox told the outlet of what he thought of the episode. “Too much technology these days for that to work. And also, I didn’t think the actual device used for the theft was sophisticated enough.”
That said, the actor also acknowledged that despite his own preferences, fans seemed to really enjoy what the episode had to offer.
“I really pushed back on the episode, and yet I hear from so many people that they love that episode. So, it just goes to show you just don’t know. It’s so subjective,” Cox added. “Everyone’s taste is different. And I’ve heard that that episode is one of the highest-rated. Internally, when they do their ratings, it’s one of the highest-rated Disney shows that they’ve had.”
Indeed, we loved Episode 5. In our Daredevil: Born Again Episodes 5 and 6 Review, we said: “It’s all just so well done. I can’t remember the last time a Marvel show had me wearing such a big smile the entire episode and had me completely captivated from start to finish. This episode also achieves something very important given the lack of Daredevil thus far: it shows what makes Matt Murdock such a unique and amazing hero, even when he’s not in costume.”
Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.
