‘Daredevil Born Again’ season 2 premiere review: A compelling next chapter

There are a lot characters in Season 2 of Daredevil Born Again – do they all get to shine?

When Daredevil: Born Again began in 2025, it started as a worrying return to the world built in Marvel’s exceptional Daredevil (2015-18). A production plagued by creative changes after the SAG and WGA strikes, Daredevil: Born Again was an uneven clash of narratives and new characters. But fans of The Man Without Fear have nothing to, well, fear. Season 2’s opener, “The Northern Star,” promises a compelling, if character-heavy, sophomore season.

We left off with Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox), alter ego Daredevil, on the run from corrupt Mayor Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio). Matt’s got Karen (Deborah Ann Woll) in tow, having resumed their on-again, off-again relationship. Across New York, Fisk and his wife Vanessa (Ayelet Zurer) are having military-grade weapons smuggled into the city while leading an Anti-Vigilante Task Force. Before the opening credits have kicked in, Matt’s vigilantism has sunk the Northern Star, a covert ship transporting Fisk’s weapons. Fisk’s team and journalist/resistance leader BB Urich (Genneya Walton) each lead searches for the ship’s two survivors.

There’s a lot to keep up with in Season 2. New faces from Daredevil: Born Again have settled into their roles more assuredly than in Season 1. With showrunner Dario Scardapane writing the first episode, everyone’s role feels clear here. In Fisk’s world, there’s Fisk’s protege Daniel Blake (Michael Gandolfini), right-hand man Cashman (Arty Froushan), and Heather Glenn (Margarita Levieva), Matt’s ex, now appointed the city’s Mental Health Commissioner. There are more players in the Daredevil world—New York is, after all, a city of 8 million people. “The Northern Star” has time for a few of them to breathe. But each actor is well-cast, believably occupying this world of lawyers, vigilantes, and corrupt politicians.

A new connection to the MCU appears in Daredevil Born Again Season 2.

A crowded (but compelling) first episode seems as good a time as any to introduce a new power player. He comes in the form of a very welcome addition to the Daredevil universe. Matthew Lillard joins the cast as Mr. Charles, a CIA agent who’s been sent to investigate the Northern Star incident. He reports to “Miss de Fontaine” (a reference to Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ villain in last year’s Thunderbolts*).

Mr. Charles is elusive and not one to bend to Fisk’s grip. With no currently known counterpart in the comics, Mr. Charles could lead to a fascinating direction for Daredevil: Born Again. Otherwise, why cast an actor as compelling and well-known as Lillard?

Crowded as it is, “The Northern Star” hints at a return to form. Though Daredevil: Born Again has been touted as a separate entity from its predecessor, it’s undeniably a sequel to Daredevil. Cox and Woll’s chemistry, a highlight of the Daredevil universe since day one, brings an energy sorely lacking in the previous season. With Karen back in the picture (she was in San Francisco, offscreen, for most of last season), there’s a softness to Matt that only she can bring out. Their banter is laced with their opposing approaches to conflict. Matt’s determined to take down Fisk with swinging fists; Karen, as a journalist, is more interested in motives and investigations.

The bottom line.

“The Northern Star” is largely set up for what promises to be a thrilling, if overstuffed, new chapter in the Daredevil story. The weeks ahead set it up to be Daredevil’s most corporate synergy-driven season yet. Krysten Ritter’s Jessica Jones, last seen in her own series’ finale in 2019, is set to return. The reference to “Miss de Fontaine” is perhaps the most explicit example of Daredevil referencing the MCU within its own episodes. (Matt appears as Peter Parker’s lawyer in Spider-Man: No Way Home.) There’s no appearance of or reference to Jon Bernthal’s Punisher despite appearing last season. But never fear, Punisher fans! He’s set to get his own special, plus an appearance in this summer’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

Daredevil: Born Again delivers a compelling first episode. The fight sequences are thrillingly choreographed, though the series has yet to match the original’s iconic hallway fight. And in some ways, the show holds up a mirror to current events. Fisk is an amoral public servant flanked by power-hungry cronies, and at times, it feels like he’ll always be in power (when has jail ever stopped him?). But in this day and age, there’s something hopeful about a show where genuine resistance makes an impact.

Daredevil has always rattled the publicly unshakable Fisk, and at the end of the day, this is a superhero show. However defeated a hero may be, the genre’s tropes require a superhero to live and succeed. We may not have real superheroes in this world, but we have them on television, imagining a world where good can, and will, conquer evil.

Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 Episode 1 is available now on Disney+.

Images courtesy of Marvel/Disney. 

Claire Di Maio

Claire was once asked in elementary school why her go-to question was always, “Watch anything good lately?” It’s still her go-to question, because she loves hearing what other people are passionate about. She often sacrifices sleep in the hopes that she will one day clear her to-watch and to-read lists (a futile effort so far).