“Old Disney scam”: serious allegations about the new series “Daredevil” on Disney+

‘Daredevil’ ran on Netflix from 2015 to 2018 and is not only one of the biggest and best series on the streaming service, but also one of the best superhero series ever. Heard because the series moved to Disney+ in March 2022, together with the other series from the ‘Defenders’ universe. A reboot called “Daredevil: Born Again” is now in the works, which will see Charlie Cox, Vincent D’Onofrio and Jon Bernthal slip back into their familiar roles as Daredevil, Kingpin and Punisher.

But what’s a great joy for some fans is also a great joy for at least some crew members involved in the old “Daredevil” series. Reason for great frustration. Why it is explained this way Steven S. DeKnightwho served as showrunner on the first season of “Daredevil,” in a series of posts on X (formerly Twitter).

On Due to the reboot, it now starts again with season 1. According to the regulations of the IATSE trade union, this means that the crew members will again receive lower salaries and no bonus payments. The International Alliance Of Theatrical Stage Employees represents all those permanent employees who are not organized in the directing, screenwriting or acting union.

In a response to this post Steven S. DeKnight described this practice as an “old Disney scamwhere they slightly rename a series to reset all contract terms to season 1. “This needs to be addressed and abolished by all unions.

In the comments below the post, other crew members report similar experiences, both at Disney and at other channels or streaming services.

In another post DeKnight went on to write that, as far as he knew, he “wouldn’t make a dime” from “Daredevil: Born Again” because — at least on paper — it wasn’t “Daredevil” season 4., but a reboot with the addition of “Born Again”. Albeit coincidentally “with the same two leads (whom I love!) for Daredevil and [Wilson] Fisk.”

DeKnight made that clear again in further posts his words are not an attack on it Charlie Cox or Vincent D’Onofrio or against those responsible for “Daredevil: Born Again.”, after he was misquoted in some American media. We would like to emphasize this again at this point.

Rather, DeKnight’s goal is to draw attention to the business practices employed by Disney and other studiosto pay the cast and crew of their series less. For very similar reasons, the script union WGA and the acting union SAG-AFTRA are currently on strike, and VFX artists recently joined the IATSE for the first time.

Filming for Daredevil: Born Again has already started, but has been postponed due to the strikes. We therefore do not expect the series to appear on Disney+ before 2025.