7 Years Later, Daredevil: Born Again Proves Disney Can't Crack TV

Published Sep 23, 2026, 4:45 PM EDT Ben is a Senior Writer on the New TV team at Screen Rant. He graduated from the University of Central Lancashire with a First Class B.A. Degree in English Literature and History. Born and raised in Ireland, Ben has always had a love for storytelling in all forms of media and operates multiple projects under the name Benjamin Blogs. Ben is a comic book writer and podcast host, in addition to his work as an entertainment journalist. He has worked as both a writer and editor for Screen Rant, Collider, and other media outlets across various departments, including features, news, reviews, and interviews. With the news that Daredevil: Born Again will conclude with season 3, it's becoming increasingly clear that Disney+ has no idea what to do with TV. Despite the incredible popularity and widespread love shown in support of Daredevil: Born Again, particularly season 2, which was spearheaded by showrunner Dario Scardapane, partway through the post-production of season 3, the series has been unceremoniously ended. Despite the post-production still being ongoing, Scardapane and Marvel Studios have parted ways, and presumably, this season was not written as an intentional ending, because the show was previously reported to be getting a new season annually. But, as devastating as this is for fans of Daredevil, it does highlight a larger issue for Disney as a whole. Disney+ Is Making A Habit Of Canceling Beloved Shows Early MovieStillsDB Disney+ established itself as a competitor to major streamers like Netflix and Prime Video in late 2019. The platform had an immediate advantage over the competition thanks to Disney's vast library of films and TV, which resulted in a huge influx of subscribers when the platform launched, and in many ways, the classic collection continues to be Disney's strongest offering. While other platforms rely heavily on producing new content to get attention and keep customers paying month after month, Disney took its time to develop shows that could expand on their most popular IPs, but this hasn't exactly gone down as people might expect. Despite now having a broad range of new original content, Disney+ has repeatedly released new shows only to cut the story short and cancel them too early. For some shows, this means canceling just as the audience begins to get invested, and in others, Disney seems to disregard public reception, the promise of accolades, or the idea of building trust with the audience. Shows like Goosebumps, Extraordinary, and Willow all attracted positive reviews and notable viewership statistics, but none made it past a second season. Then, when it comes to Disney's largest IPs like Star Wars and Marvel, they have made baffling choices to conclude shows with enormous potential and widespread praise from audiences and critics alike, such as The Acolyte, Wonder Man, and now Daredevil: Born Again. Disney+'s Was Never Going To Beat Netflix Unfortunately, it seems as though Disney was doomed to fall behind in many ways when Disney+ was built specifically to take back control from more established platforms like Netflix. Netflix created a new way to consume content, with a massive library of shows and films available to stream, which was bolstered by a bunch of licensing agreements with studios. Evidently, when the streamer took off in a big way, and studios like Disney realized they could be further monetizing their own content if they had a streamer of their own, they built Disney+. And while the initial setup was straightforward- revoking or not renewing licenses with other platforms, and then uploading everything to their shiny new streaming site- the novelty wore off quickly, and Disney needed to add to the library. Now, they still had an ongoing influx of new releases thanks to their feature film productions, which would find their way to Disney+ after their theatrical release, but Disney+ needed original content, and specifically long-form, episodic stories that would keep audiences coming back. Netflix had mastered this type of media, with a constant influx of shows in a range of genres, but Disney has never had to focus on creating substantial amounts of TV content beyond kids shows to keep the Disney Channel moving along. So, struggling to get to grips with making TV shows that cater to a wide range of audiences, it seems that Disney didn't know or understand the costs involved, and has been unwilling to invest beyond a certain point. The Streaming War Has A Clear Leader, And It's Not Disney Today, there are dozens of streaming sites competing for attention, but there are a handful of clear leaders who are leading the pack by a considerable margin. Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, Apple TV, Paramount+, and HBO Max. And while the total subscriptions place Netflix in a comfortable lead, there is another metric that is equally important to review. Disney+ is one of the best-performing streaming platforms in terms of subscribers, with a late 2025 report indicating that it has around 132 million subscriptions to the platform. However, the churn rate, which indicates how many people are canceling their memberships, sits at around 5.5%. While that number may seem pretty low, Netflix is significantly lower at just 2.1%. In this way, Disney is comparable to some of the other top platforms, but it's clear that customers are dissatisfied with the rate of new content coming to the platform, and the fact that Disney is canceling so many spectacular TV shows is an important part of this equation. If Disney doesn't commit to new shows, despite solid ratings, positive reviews, and clear feedback from audiences, then the platform isn't adding value, all the while, they continue to increase the price of their subscriptions (via Bloomberg). Will Charlie Cox's Daredevil Have A Future On Disney+ Image credit: JoJo Whilden/Marvel/Disney The cancelation of Daredevil: Born Again is just one part of a bigger problem with Disney's unwillingness to invest in shows, likely because the returns aren't as fast or visible as with their theatrical releases. Unfortunately, for fans of these projects, it erodes trust in Disney as a brand and harms the stories that are being made. For shows like Extraordinary, the impact only goes so far, but for Marvel or Star Wars, both of which are creating vast shared universes where these characters and plot lines impact and crossover with each other, it creates enormous issues and ultimately hurts the entire franchise. So, when it comes to Charlie Cox's Daredevil, there is no clear plan for how and where this character will appear in the future of the MCU. The confirmed returning cast from the Netflix Marvel shows suggested a Defenders-style project, or at least spin-offs from these street-level heroes, down the line. There were also high hopes that Daredevil could appear in feature films, but without this series to keep him tied to the MCU, it seems precarious. All of that being said, it begs the question of whether the revival of Daredevil through Disney+'s Daredevil: Born Again was actually the best path forward for the character, or, if the Netflix series wasn't pulled in the first place to clear the way for Disney+ big plans, could the character have had a brighter future outside of the MCU? Release Date March 4, 2025 Network Disney+ Showrunner Dario Scardapane Directors Aaron Moorhead, Justin Benson, David Boyd, Jeffrey Nachmanoff Writers Jesse Wigutow, Jill Blankenship, Thomas Wong, David Feige, Grainne Godfree Franchise(s) Daredevil, Marvel Cinematic Universe Creator(s) Matt Corman, Chris Ord, Dario Scardapane