Marvel TV boss reassures fans about future after criticism – and teases more "traditional" projects in development

Some would even argue it's been downhill ever since Marvel's first streaming release, Jac Schaeffer's widely praised WandaVision, with 2023 entry Secret Invasion being particularly panned (although the latest offering, WandaVision spin-off Agatha All Along, fared a little better).

Now, Brad Winderbaum, head of streaming, television and animation at Marvel, has opened up about the future, exclusively telling RadioTimes.com that "trial and error" has always been the norm for the studio - and now they're embracing a more "traditional" form of TV.

Asked about what reassurances he can make to fans following years of criticism, Winderbaum reflected: "All I can say is that Marvel has been around for over 85 years - when we started the film studio, back in 2006, when we were first making Iron Man 1, it was an experimental time, and there was some trial and error in the early days as well.

"Pioneering the shared universe for the general audience was a huge undertaking, and a really exciting one to be a part of. I think the advent of streaming as an opportunity to tell more stories was a very new endeavour for us and for the entire industry.

"If you look around at every studio in Hollywood and how they've created content for streaming platforms, you see a lot of experimentation. There's trial and error, there's risks - you have to take risks and see what works and what succeeds."

Winderbaum went on: "We learned a lot and my hope is that we can create television for television, that's perhaps a little bit more traditional than we thought at first, where shows can come out for a longer period of time, season over season, maybe with an annual release schedule.

"Something that feels more comfortable, where you're living with characters for a long period of time, and more like a television show, that makes it different to big event movies you can only see on a giant screen."

As for what's in development at the moment? "We're developing more than we make," Winderbaum explained. "We're writing more than we'll produce."

He added: "It's a very traditional way to make television, and studios have been doing that for many decades - with Marvel, there's a little bit more of a spotlight on us because people are paying attention to what we have in development, but the goal is to only proceed with things that we think can last for multiple seasons, a story that can sustain.

"I think there's incredible stuff [in development]. I mean, the Marvel Universe is vast. I wish there was the ability to make every single show I ever wanted to make in my career. It's not realistic, at the end of the day I'm subject to the same forces of supply and demand as everybody else.

"So I just try to listen to the fans, listen to the culture, and listen to Disney and deliver what I think will be good stories."

It's no secret that Daredevil: Born Again has had an interesting road to release, to say the least, with Marvel reviving to the series after it was cancelled on Netflix in 2018 following positive reactions to Charlie Cox's Man Without Fear returning to the MCU.

The entire series had to be retooled from its original iteration, allowing it to serve as a sequel, or a continuation of the original show rather than a reboot, crucially bringing back characters including Elden Henson's Foggy and Deborah Ann Woll's Karen and welcoming a new showrunner in the form of The Punisher's Dario Scardapane.

But now it's seemingly opened up a whole new world for Marvel's TV output, potentially heralding a return for MCU characters we never thought we'd get to see again, including Krysten Ritter's beloved Jessica Jones.

Scardapane himself weighed in on this possibility, telling us: "As we work in that little corner of the MCU that is Hell's Kitchen, that's a world unto itself - and I think there's a few familiar faces that we definitely want to bring back, and we're gonna see how that plays out."

Winderbaum added: "I think we're trying to create a very grounded version of New York.

"What Dario has done is he's built New York out as kind of a medieval kingdom or something, with a lot of different power structures pulling the levers of power, and this world is something that has many stories to explore in it.

"You're right to say that these characters exist. They're walking around, they're living and breathing in the same world.

"So, I think collisions are always possible, but it will always be driven by the story and by the characters. We won't do it arbitrarily. If they do collide, it will be because the story demands it."

So, with Daredevil: Born Again marking somewhat of a new era for Marvel's television storytelling, why was now the right time for him to return?

"I don't know if it's the right time," Winderbaum reflected. "It's the soonest time we were able to do it. I think we've all been excited about these characters. We love these characters. We love the portrayal of Matt Murdock by Charlie Cox and of Kingpin by Vincent D'Onofrio.

"And certainly, I was one of those fans behind the scenes, rooting for its revival. The fact that I get to work with these actors and these storytellers on a show that I was a fan of when the original series came out is just really a dream come true."

Daredevil: Born Again premieres on Disney Plus on Wednesday 5th March 2025.

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