Finally giving legitimacy to news from last month, Marvel has officially confirmed that upcoming geek guru Drew Goddard is coming aboard the Daredevil TV series that is set to premiere on Netflix in 2015.
Goddard is set to write and direct the first episode of the highly anticipated series and will remain as executive producer and showrunner for the rest of the show’s order of 13 episodes.
Goddard has long proven his geek credentials, having cut his teeth on shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Lost, before collaborating with friend and current Marvel Godfather Joss Whedon on the screenplay for Cabin in the Woods, a destined cult classic horror/comedy which Goddard also directed. He has also since contributed to the screenplays of Cloverfieldand World War Z.
Personally, this is fantastic news. Goddard is the perfect kind of writer and filmmaker to handle a superhero property, particularly one that may be a little darker or meaner than the upbeat tone of the current slate of Marvel Studios films. Hopefully on Netflix, he will have a greater degree of latitude than those PG-13 films to develop the Man Without Fear for an audience ready to see the MCU’s own street level crimefighter. Also, unlike much of the talent centered around Daredevil’s singular big screen effort from 2003, Goddard’s involvement promises genuine quality in framing and writing the new series.