Change is brewing once again for Marvel’s premiere Netflix show.
Big news on the Daredevil front. According to Deadline, Vincent D’Onofrio — or as he’s known on the show, Wilson Fisk/Kingpin — will make a comeback in Season 3, with Erik Oleson joining the Marvel/Netflix series as the third season’s showrunner.
Per executive producer and Marvel Television chief Jeph Loeb, “Vincent is an exceptional actor who returns with the incredible gravitas he brings to Fisk. We’re very excited how Marvel’s Daredevil develops through the creative lens and guidance of our new showrunner, Erik Oleson.”
After a chilling run as the main villain in the first season of Daredevil, having the unbelievably brutal but unnervingly charismatic Fisk return sometime in the show’s future would’ve been a no-brainer. D’Onofrio’s portrayal of the classic villain provided conflict as well as relatability for Charlie Cox’s Matt Murdock. He was a big bad in many ways, and that worked to introduce the show to a legion of MCU fans.
I wouldn’t call it premature to bring Fisk back in full force so soon, either. Sure, he’s iconic enough to live on guest appearances alone, as was the case when he appeared in Episodes 8, 9 and 10 of Season 2. But without Fisk, or indeed any entity, puppeteering the operation, there was a general lack of villainous direction in the show. Season 2 of Daredevil brought new, chaotic elements to the table that could make for interesting future plotlines (and indeed, has resulted in a spin-off show). However, it turned out that not all agents of chaos worked out in the season’s favor. Despite a 13-episode format that should have allowed all its antagonists to breathe a little more, Season 2 ended up being a muddied follow-up the crisp, mature show Season 1 proved capable of.
That being said, a single consensus that could be drawn from all the different Marvel Netflix shows is that they are just 13-hour long movies you have to binge. While this doesn’t erase narrative issues in a messy season, it certainly provides an impetus for people to stay to the end. As FSR’s Neil Miller pointed out last year:
“[A show like Daredevil] doesn’t have to overwhelm and hook its audience with every single episode. It’s the end-to-end narrative that matters most. By episode seven, threads begin to come together and the battle between chaos and order is gaining steam as the context expands.”
D’Onofrio’s return clearly indicates that Daredevil wants to go back to basics, and the switch in showrunner for a second time in three seasons highlights that fact even more. Oleson’s writing and producing credits include The Man in the High Castle and one of The CW’s superhero adaptations, Arrow. No word yet on other production details for Daredevil Season 3, but Marvel’s Netflix properties show no signs of petering out. Second seasons for Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist will all happen somewhere down the pipeline too.
Related Topics: Daredevil, Marvel, Netflix
