#SaveDaredevil

Overview

#SaveDaredevil is an online campaign to revive the Marvel superhero television series Daredevil, which the show's studio, internet video streaming service Netflix, canceled in fall 2018.

Background

On November 29th, 2018, Netflix canceled Daredevil following the release of the show's third season.^[1] In a statement, the company said:

Marvel’s Daredevil will not return for a fourth season on Netflix. We are tremendously proud of the show’s last and final season and although it’s painful for the fans, we feel it best to close this chapter on a high note. We’re thankful to our partners at Marvel, showrunner Erik Oleson, the show’s writers, stellar crew and incredible cast including Charlie Cox as Daredevil himself, and we’re grateful to the fans who have supported the show over the years.

Developments

Change.org Campaign

The following day, Change.org user Joseph Garcia launched the #SaveDaredevil campaign. They wrote in their explanation for the campaign:

Our wishes are: 1. That Marvel Television reach out to Netflix to negotiate a mutually beneficial deal that allows the show, in its current format, to continue. Either on Netflix, or on a different platform.

2. Barring this approach, that a deal is reached that allows the characters from the Netflix show to appear in other Marvel Television productions, played by the original cast.

Within one month, the campaign has received more than 127,000 signatures of its 150,000 signature goal.^[2]

Two weeks later, on December 13th, the website SaveDaredevil.com^[3][4] launched. The site offers a link to the petition, as well as instructions for a letter writing campaign to "Marvel and potential decision makers."

Online Reaction

Following the launch of the campaign, fans on Twitter began sharing images the series and messages of support for the movement to revive the show (examples below).

Show Response

On December 6th, 2018, actor Charlie Cox, who portrays the titular character on Daredevil, said that he would take the role again.^[6] When asked about reviving the character, he replied, "Oh my God, yeah. I don’t know how this would happen, but maybe one day we could pick up the baton and do it again."

On January 4th, 2019, one of the show's stars, Vincent D'Onofrio tweeted about the campaign. Posting a link to the Change.org campaign to Twitter,^[5] D'Onofrio wrote, "Welcome to #SaveDaredevil." The post received more than 9,000 retweets and 17,000 likes in four days (shown below).

On January 6th, Redditor ^[11] RokuKyoshiAang shared D'Onofiro's tweet on the /r/Defenders subreddit. The post received more than 3,100 points (97% upvoted) and 130 comments.

Media Coverage

Several media outlets covered the campaign, including Comicbook.com,^[7] Cinema Blend,^[8] Heroic Hollywood,^[9] TV Guide^[10] and more.

Search Interest

External References