Drew Goddard Won't Write and Run Marvel's 'Daredevil' Netflix Series

In addition to Edgar Wright not directing Ant-Man, there's another big change coming in the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Lost and Buffy the Vampire scribe Drew Goddard won't write and serve as showrunner for the studio's upcoming Daredevil Netflix series.

The Hollywood Reporter broke the news on Friday, reporting that Goddard was departing the series to focus on writing and directing the Amazing Spider-Man spinoff Sinister Six for Sony. Marvel then announced that Steven S. DeKnight would takeover showrunner duties on Daredevil.

Marvel is proud to announce that acclaimed writer, director and producer Steven S. DeKnight ("Spartacus," "Buffy: The Vampire Slayer," "Angel") has joined "Marvel's Daredevil" as Executive Producer & Showrunner on the all-new 13-episode series premiering on Netflix in 2015. Drew Goddard, who also wrote the first two episodes, will continue to serve as Executive Producer on "Marvel"s Daredevil" as he writes and preps Sony's "The Amazing Spider-Man" spin-off film, "The Sinister Six."  

Between Wright and Goddard leaving high-profile Marvel Cinematic Universe projects, it's easy to start speculation that something is wrong over there. I think that would be reading into the situation way too much, though. Wright and Marvel Studios were having creative differences, which is entirely different than Goddard choosing to write and direct a Spider-Man spinoff over writing and showrunning a limited-run Netflix series.

That said, if I were Goddard, I would be worried about abandoning Marvel Studios for Sony's Spider-Man Cinematic Universe. Marvel has something pretty strong going, carefully charting a course for its Cinematic Universe. Sony's Spider-Man franchise seems to be on shaky ground, with The Amazing Spider-Man 2 performing worse than any previous Spider-Man movie.