How fans of the Marvel series are hoping to #SaveDaredevil
Netflix left Daredevil fans apoplectic in November last year when it dropped the axe on the series a mere six weeks after its third season had dropped on the service (and to widespread acclaim).
Erik Olson – the Marvel drama's latest showrunner and the man widely credited for its creative renaissance – had presented Netflix with his pitch for a fourth season, but the streaming giant ultimately opted to pass.
The reasons why, it would appear, are various and complicated – analytics firm Jumpshot have suggested that, in its first week on Netflix, the third season's viewership was less than half that of season two's equivalent, but there's likely more to this story than just dwindling ratings.
Fans have speculated that the mass culling of Netflix's MCU shows - with Iron Fist and Luke Cage also biting the dust - is also partly down to plans by Disney (which owns Marvel) to consolidate all its content on its own streaming service, Disney+, launching later in 2019.
Whatever the reason, Daredevil fans are refusing too take the show's cancellation lying down. With series lead Charlie Cox confirming that the planned fourth season would've dug deeper into the dynamic between Matt Murdock/Daredevil and Ben Poindexter (Wilson Bethel), now evolved into the notorious villain Bullseye, supporters of the series flocked to Change.org in their droves.
The #SaveDaredevil petition urges Marvel Television to "reach a deal with Netflix that allows the show, in its current format and with its current cast and crew, to continue on a different platform" and has, at the timing of writing, attracted over a quarter of a million signatures.
SaveDaredevil.com is also encouraging fans to write e-mails and letters directly to Marvel - but insists they be "polite and respectful" - and also includes details of the fan campaign #OperationNapkins. Daredevil's third season finale saw Matt, Foggy (Elden Henson) and Karen (Deborah Ann Woll) reunited, with Foggy scrawling the name of their new law firm - Nelson, Murdock and Page - on a napkin, with fans now sending similar napkins to Marvel HQ in New York as means of peaceful protest.
These protests have even secured the support of the show's cast – having previously expressed his regret over the show's "painful" premature ending, Charlie Cox has not only urged Daredevil fans to add their names to the petition, he's even signed it himself. He told The Playlist: "I wasn’t sure about adding my email because I’m not very technically savvy, and I didn’t want to suddenly put my email online; I don’t know if it was visible or not. But what I did do is I made a fake e-mail for my two-year-old daughter, and she signed it."
The Kingpin himself, Wilson Fisk actor Vincent D'Onofrio, has also thrown his support behind the campaign, repeatedly encouraging fans to sign the petition on social media.
Welcome to #SaveDaredevil https://t.co/ldSvV0DCNT
- Vincent D'Onofrio (@vincentdonofrio) January 4, 2019
It's all very heartwarming, but will it actually have the desired effect? Could this fan campaign actually #SaveDaredevil?
The biggest obstacle to a potential revival is, of course, Marvel's deal with Netflix. It's not unheard of for the streamer to reverse a cancellation, at least in part – following fan protests, it brought the cult fantasy Sense8 back for a wrap-up TV movie, having originally axed the show after two seasons.
But if it doesn't go back on its decision, a clause remains in effect banning Marvel from relaunching Daredevil, or indeed Iron Fist or Luke Cage, on a rival platform for a period of two years following its cancellation.
The earliest any revival could get underway, then, is late 2020 / early 2021. A long wait, but, for its part, Marvel appears keen to pursue more Daredevil in some form.
The show's co-executive producer Sam Ernst has revealed Marvel TV staff were "stunned" by Netflix's decision to drop the show, comments echoed by actress Amy Rutberg (Marci Stahl) who suggested in December that the series' cancellation was "purely a Netflix decision".
In a statement following the series' cancellation, Marvel also said that it was "look[ing] forward to more adventures with the Man without Fear in the future", while the official Daredevil Twitter account shared an image of Nelson, Murdock, and Page, their napkin and the slogan, "Justice never stops".
- Daredevil (@Daredevil) November 30, 2018
So where could a fourth season land? Well, despite accusations that the rise of Disney+ might've contributed to Daredevil's cancellation, Disney's Kevin Mayer called Netflix's axed Marvel series "very high quality shows" and said that picking them up on the new service was "a possibility", though added the caveat that there were no discussions underway.
It's far from a done deal, and there remain concerns as to how well the violent, adult-themed Daredevil and its sister series might fit with the House of Mouse's family-friendly brand, but Disney's new platform nevertheless remains the best and most probable platform for a relaunch. So it might be worth flinging a few napkins there way, too.
If all else fails, of course, there's always the Marvel movies. How about giving Charlie Cox that DD / Spidey screen cross-over of his dreams, Kevin Feige?
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