Marvel Studios is poised to debut what's being called its own answer to Game of Thrones in 2026. Despite Disney+ and Marvel Studios scaling back overall television output in an effort to prioritize quality over quantity, the franchise’s next live-action series is generating significant buzz ahead of its March 24 premiere. Early reactions have drawn comparisons to the political intrigue and high-stakes drama of Westeros, signaling a tonal shift from the studio’s previous Disney+ offerings.
In an October 2025 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Brad Winderbaum (Marvel's Head of TV and Animation) offered insight into Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 and why the studio is confident in its creative direction.
After Season 1 underwent a mid-production overhaul that resulted in a somewhat uneven final product, Winderbaum emphasized that showrunner Dario Scardapane led Season 2 with a consistent creative team from start to finish. That stability alone has fueled optimism among fans who expect a more high-caliber season.
According to Winderbaum, the upcoming episodes will lean heavily into "the politics of New York," particularly with Wilson Fisk (Vincent D'Onofrio) now operating as the city's mayor:
"The politics of New York are a big part of that story. It's clearly about a guy who runs around in a devil suit, but what is amazing about Dario's work is the intricacy of the interplay of all these characters and how he really treats New York and the world of City Hall and the groundswell of the growing resistance against Fisk."
Most notably, Winderbaum compared Season 2's storytelling to Game of Thrones, teasing a "palace intrigue-type" structure. Rather than relying solely on surprise character appearances, he suggested the drama will be driven by political maneuvering:
"It feels at times like a fantasy epic or 'Game of Thrones' or something. There's a palace intrigue-type storytelling that is really fun to read. I'm starting to watch the cuts. It's amazing. So I don't know if it's exactly about who's gonna show up. It's a little deeper than that. There are rewards to be had for fans, but it's really about the stakes of this world that this Kingpin is building in New York City."
Season 2 of Born Again has Fisk not as a crime boss clawing for relevance, but as a ruler defending a throne. Executive producer Sana Amanat made it clear that this chapter begins with Fisk at the height of his authority, having successfully transitioned from underworld kingpin to sitting Mayor of New York.
His Safer Streets Initiative functions less like public policy and more like a consolidation of power, weaponizing law enforcement through the Anti-Vigilante Task Force and tightening his institutional grip on the city.
As Amanat suggested, the central question becomes whether absolute power will stabilize him or expose fatal cracks in his empire, drawing comparisons to the scale of power found in Westeros.
That is where Matthew Lillard's Mr. Charles enters as a destabilizing force. Unlike a flamboyant supervillain, Mr. Charles seems methodical, a player operating within the same civic and criminal ecosystems Fisk now controls.
If he is indeed confronting Fisk's secret prison or exploiting the Mayor's authoritarian overreach, he becomes less a rival to Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) and more a challenger to the throne itself.
That dynamic, competing power brokers maneuvering within structures of influence, is precisely what draws comparisons to Game of Thrones. This isn't simply hero versus villain; it's sovereign versus insurgent, public image versus hidden rot.
Scarpane more recently made this comparison himself, mentioning Game of Thrones, but also that the power will shift, and they "finish up the Mayor Fisk run with Season 2:"
"Getting into the realm of politics, New York politics, the Game of Thrones intrigue behind the scenes… okay, that’s fun too, but as it becomes almost too topical it feels like it’s going away from the large, mythological genre stuff. So as we finish up the Mayor Fisk run with season 2, as that storyline comes to its inevitable conclusion, what we’re doing going forward feels more like a return to the [Frank] Miller-era comics. So yeah, it was fun to play in the realm of politics but I like something a little more street level, personally."
This confirms that Fisk's focus will get divided between suppressing vigilantes and neutralizing a rising criminal rival (like Mr. Charles); the resulting political fragmentation could provide Daredevil and his allies the opening they need to strike.
A More Serious Marvel TV Show
While the Game of Thrones comparisons stem largely from political maneuvering, Daredevil: Born Again also represents an evolution for Marvel on Disney+.
As a TV-MA project, the series is permitted a level of brutality and psychological intensity not seen elsewhere in the MCU's streaming catalog. The violence is more visceral, and the narrative stakes are significantly heightened, particularly with Fisk weaponizing the law against masked vigilantes.
Produced directly under the Marvel Television banner, the show builds upon the foundation laid by the original Daredevil, which many fans adored for its hard edge. This creative direction opens the door for more prestige-style, character-driven dramas that lean into ethical ambiguity rather than spectacle alone.
When the series premieres on March 24, audiences will also see the long-awaited return of Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter), a development that further reinforces Marvel's commitment to its street-level corner of the universe.
