Studios shutdown Daredevil and Penguin shows until the writers strike is over
With the strike stretching into its third month, the studios continue to put huge shows on pause
Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery have paused production on two of their most anticipated shows, Daredevil: Born Again and The Penguin, due to the WGA strike, per Deadline. The strike, which began in May in large part over unfair wages and residuals for massively popular and expensive streaming shows studios, has reportedly interrupted the lengthy productions of both superhero properties.
Daredevil: Born Again sees the return of Charlie Cox’s Daredevil, who got his start on the 2015 Netflix series. Thanks to a multiverse of contract negotiations, Cox entered the MCU in Spider-Man: No Way Home, which saw Disney consuming many of the non-MCU Marvel actors and timelines into one fan-pleasing Easter egg hunt. But because studios are currently refusing the WGA’s demands of residuals on titles like the 18-episode Disney+ series Daredevil: Born Again, picket lines have shut down the show’s New York production.
Likewise, the Colin Farrell-led Penguin has also felt the heat from New York picketers from the WGA East. The eight-episode Max drama lost a week of filming in May due to WGA picket lines that local unions refused to cross, with members of the WGAE gloating over having done Batman’s job in one day. Batman has never been particularly good at keeping Gotham free of crime.
The WGA is waiting for the studios to return to the negotiating table so that the action can come to an end. However, studios are seemingly waiting to see what SAG-AFTRA will do when the union contract expires at the end of the month. Last week, SAG-AFTRA overwhelmingly voted in favor of strike authorization, meaning they could join the picket lines if a deal isn’t reached. Ultimately, the unions have been quite clear: If the studios want entertainment to sell to consumers, they must pay those who make the product.