Interview: Discussing the Looks of ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ with Costume Designer Emily Gunshor

For the bulk of Daredevil: Born Again, Matt Murdock is attempting to move away from his life as a vigilante after the death of Foggy Nelson and work within the system to exact justice. As an established lawyer in his newfound firm, Murdock & McDuffie, he dresses differently than in the original Netflix series. For costume designer Emily Gunshor, who spoke to Awards Radar on Zoom, this was an intentional choice: 

“In the Netflix series, he wears a lot of gray suits. I purposely avoided gray. You never see him in a gray suit. He’s always in blues. We wanted to have a very bespoke, modern fit. He’s no longer living in Hell’s Kitchen. He’s now living in Williamsburg. Where he shops or gets his clothing made is more affluent. He would have the suits custom-made or have somebody else pick them for him. That was the direction we went. Craig Robinson, who’s a tailor in Williamsburg, made us his suit, and he did an excellent job creating that. We also wanted to keep it lawyer-esque, with notch lapels, two buttons, and slim-fitting blues. We switched to a bigger knot. He’s taking a bit more pride in his look.”

That story arc also mirrors Wilson Fisk’s, who is also trying to move away from his criminal life as he enters municipal politics. In designing his mayoral looks, Gunshor explains that “it all becomes part of the armor that we are living in our lives and how we are presenting to the world. Wilson Fisk had a very conservative, classic suit in charcoal gray. He even had an arc in his ties with a bit more pattern. And then you’ll see, I think, in episode seven, we added a through piece onto the suit to build into this more sartorial look for him along the way until we reveal the white suit at the end. Even in that moment, it’s a tuxedo. It’s not the full white kingpin suit as we know it. We looked at Tom Wolf as a reference to a businessman who could walk around New York City in a white suit and not be looked at as a gangster or as the mob boss, and try to find that balance in that place for him, that he’s blending in.”

When production was shut down due to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, Daredevil: Born Again underwent a creative overhaul, which saw several characters who weren’t part of the original show added for episodes directed by Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead. One of them was Benjamin Poindexter AKA Bullseye, who finally wears his iconic suit from the comics, albeit with a few modifications. 

In designing the suit, Gunshor said that “the idea was that it was not a full-fledged superhero suit. It’s more of a collaboration between tactics and armor. There’s something a little bit grounded and realistic in his suit. We looked through the comics to find out how we would put the rings while not going too far or too little. For the black rings around his neck, if you actually were to look down at him overhead, the rings continue to the back. It was really exciting with our directive shift. The whole point was to make an awesome show. And I think that Dario Scardapane coming in really achieved that and gave us the excitement and vision that we needed.”

Of course, there was much to talk about when discussing the costumes of Daredevil: Born Again, which includes the process of designing Muse’s look, The Punisher’s costume, working with the late Kamar de los Reyes on designing the White Tiger’s suit, and if there were any specific easter eggs that were included in some of the looks for the show. 

You can listen to my full interview with Emily below and see all episodes of Daredevil: Born Again on Disney+ today:

[Some of the quotes in this article have been edited for length and clarity]