The exciting news broke just last week that Disney / Marvel had teamed up with Netflix to bring the characters Daredevil, Luke Cage, Iron Fist and Jessica Jones to screens via the streaming service. Now The Wrap has heard that Cabin In The Woods** co-writer / director Drew Goddard is in line to write the Daredevil series.
Matt Murdock, AKA The Man Without Fear, was pitched as the first of the characters to arrive in the original announcement, with a 13-episode superhero series for each of the four building to a miniseries event that sees them teaming up as The Defenders.
Goddard is an old hand at TV, having cut his teeth working for Joss Whedon on Buffy and Angel before moving on to the J.J. Abrams world for Alias and Lost, and jumping to movies with the script for Cloverfield. Then, of course, came** Cabin In The Woods** and work on World War Z’s troubled screenplay.
In addition to his healthy credit list, Goddard also seems like a strong choice for Daredevil because he’s already shown an interest in the character. Talking purely hypothetically back last year when the character was still owned by Fox, he revealed his love for all things Matt Murdock to Collider.
“If we could find the right project, I would love to do it. You're talking to a guy who had quotes from Daredevil painted on his walls growing up... Fox has most of the stuff that was on my walls as a kid,” he said. ”Conversations always happen, but until anything's official, who knows? But I'll definitely put it out there that I love all these characters.”
Sounds like he’s getting his wish. Nothing has been announced about what stories the series might follow (we've already offered up some ideas), but Goddard is on record as a fan of Frank Miller’s Born Again run. Given Joss Whedon’s prime position in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (and beyond with TV’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.), it also seems like a no-brainer to recruit one of his most trusted collaborators for this risky new project.
In related news, Deadline brings word that Twilight** screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg is set to work on the Jessica Jones series that will form another of the four strands. Rosenberg, in addition to putting words in Bella and Edward's mouths, also has a history in TV, with stints on shows such as The O.C., Dexter, Party Of Five and short-lived DC superhero series Birds Of Prey. And, like Goddard, she has a previous connection to the hero she’ll write for: she was part of the team developing a Jessica Jones series for ABC (where Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. is shown in the US) three years ago.