The second point to note with regard to potential villains is that, in a very real sense, the success of the Daredevil TV show is as much due to Vincent D’Onofrio’s astounding turn as Wilson Fisk as it is due to the efforts of the superhero himself – so to proceed without at least a small involvement of him would be a bold move indeed. Similarly, while avoiding spoilers, there is the conspicuous, but fleeting, appearance of another menacing character at the end of episode 7 to consider.
Of course, any talk of new characters is speculation at this point, as the second season is newly confirmed and is not due to go into production until later in the year, according to Cox.
“We’ll begin shooting in the second half of the year. It’ll be the same timeline as the last show, so season two will come out about this time next year. Again, I’m imagining all this, but they’ll probably do Iron Fist or Luke Cage at the same time, followed by the other one [of the two] in the first half of 2016, and then maybe Defenders in the second half of 2016, or the beginning of 2017. What’s exciting is to have a season where [Matt Murdock] is really embodying his alter ego before we get to the Defenders.”
It certainly does bode well for the eventual Defenders miniseries that Netflix is prepared to expand further upon the contributing characters ahead of that team event. It also means that, if they take the same flexible approach with the following three characters – Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist – then they have a potentially hefty production slate over the next five years.
While star Charlie Cox speculates about new characters arriving in Hell’s Kitchen, it has already been confirmed that Daredevil showrunner Steven DeKnight will hand over the second season reins to Doug Petrie and Marco Ramirez, who numbered among the all-male writing team of the first season. It has to be said that with new people running the production, it would be a good time to recruit some female writers and directors to the show, since season one included none. In reality, this should happen anyway, but perhaps if significant new female characters – such as Elektra – are planned, it will make that step a bigger priority.