Point: writers! Two major upcoming comic book shows, Marvel Disney+ series Daredevil: Born Again and DC’s The Batman spinoff The Penguin for Max, have officially stopped production until the end of the writers strike, whenever that may be.
The news was first reported by Deadline, which explains that productions of both shows had been targeted by Writers Guild of America picketers and had been forced to start and stop production several times over the past few weeks. Finally, with too much daily uncertainty over who might or might not show up to work due to the picket lines, both companies have decided to pause production.
That sounds like bad news if you are just waiting to see what’s next for Daredevil or the Penguin, but it’s good news if you’re a fan of movie and TV writers. This is the whole point of a strike: to hit studios where it hurts. And yes, that results in collateral damage in the form of delays and jobs being put on pause, but hopefully that’s just fuel for the fire of getting the writers a deal so everyone can get back to work.
Deadline reports Daredevil: Born Again is three months into an eight-month shoot. The eventual season will be 18 episodes long and bring back Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio from their previous Daredevil series (and MCU appearances in She-Hulk and Hawkeye, respectively). No word on how far along The Penguin is, but it’s set in Matt Reeves’ Batman world and stars Colin Farrell as the would-be supervillain. That’ll be eight episodes. But now, of course, any potential release windows Disney+ and Max had in mind are out the window, so to speak — until those companies decide, along with the rest of Hollywood, to reach a fair deal with the writers.