Tom Hiddleston's Scrapped Daredevil: Born Again Role Explained By Charlie Cox
by Ryan Scott · /FilmTom Hiddleston is forever going to be part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the hearts and minds of many fans. Even though Hiddleston believes he's only a temporary torchbearer of the role of Loki, he's made it difficult for any actor to follow in his footsteps over the course of the last 15 years. It turns out he very nearly helped put his stamp on a very different corner of the MCU in "Daredevil: Born Again," but not as Thor's trickster god brother. Rather, as a director.
On a recent episode of the "Happy Sad Confused" podcast, Charlie Cox discussed everything "Daredevil" in honor of "Born Again" Season 2 coming to a close on Disney+. During the conversation, the actor behind Matt Murdock revealed that Hiddleston, who has long been his pal in real life, was going to direct an episode of the show's first season before plans were altered along the way. Here's what Cox had to say about it:
"When the first season of 'Born Again' was originally going to be 18 episodes long, Tom was going to direct one of the episodes. One of the great losses of the back half of that original season, even though the changes that were made to the show were needed and necessary and made it much better, but he was going to direct episode 12 or something."
"We were already on the phone collaborating and coming up with ideas and stuff," Cox added. "That would have been lovely."
When the show was announced in 2022, the first season was supposed to have 18 episodes. But that was cut dramatically, leading to Marvel revamping "Daredevil: Born Again" Season 1 with new writers and directors well into production.
Loki could have directed Daredevil in the MCU
What's especially interesting is that Tom Hiddleston doesn't currently have any directing credits to his name. As an actor, he's stayed very busy even outside of the MCU, starring in "The Life of Chuck" (the best Stephen King movie of 2025), as well as "The Night Manager" Season 2 even more recently. This episode of "Born Again" would have represented his directorial debut, and given when production would have taken place, we have to wonder if Hiddleston would have even been available for all of his acting projects had things gone according to plan.
For Marvel Studios, hiring one of its stars in this context makes a ton of sense. Allowing Hiddleston to make his directorial debut on a show where he would have had a lot of support from a consistent crew, rather than a movie that he's taking on from the ground up, would have been a logical way to go about it. The narrative of Hiddleston, a mainstay of the MCU, stepping behind the camera for a street-level tale also would have added something to the proceedings.
Alas, this just didn't work out. "Daredevil: Born Again" Season 3 is shaping up to be a "Defenders" reunion and is already well underway. It seems unlikely that Hiddleston would be brought in to direct an episode in the upcoming season; we likely would have heard something by now. But that doesn't mean that Disney/Marvel Studios couldn't bring him back for another episode of a different show at some point down the line.
Meanwhile, Hiddleston is returning in "Avengers: Doomsday" following "Loki" Season 2, which previously seemed like it was going to be his MCU send-off. We'll see how that plays out when the movie hits theaters this December.
"Dardevil: Born Again" is streaming now on Disney+.