INTERVIEW: The Newton Brothers Discuss ‘Daredevil: Born Again,’ ‘X-Men '97’ and Mike Flanagan

As Daredevil: Born Again approaches its season finale, Nexus Point News sat down with The Newton Brothers to discuss the series, their scoring process, and the creative journey behind the music. From capturing the duality of Matt Murdock’s character to honoring the legacy of the original Daredevil score, the duo offers an insightful behind-the-scenes look at their creative process, inspirations, and the careful choices that bring each scene to life. In this interview, we explore their work on Daredevil: Born Again and their broader journey as composers, collaborators, and passionate storytellers.

Congratulations on Daredevil: Born Again! When you first came on board, what was your initial reaction to scoring this project? Was there something about Daredevil's world that immediately sparked a musical idea for you?

Taylor: I mean, like so many, we were just big nerds and big fans of the comics, and even the show. So it was really exciting. I don't think we were thinking about music just yet, but we're always thinking about music and about all kinds of projects. I think we were more just excited at the opportunity to try to get attached to something we love so much.

Andy: Yeah, it was fun to see the character that they've put together in this season, and that was fun to work with musically because there's so much. I think the thing that Taylor and I kept coming back to was like the rage and redemption of Matt Murdock and Daredevil in this season, right? In episode 3, he's happy that the end of that trial plays out in a way that he feels like the Matt Murdock side of him found justice for Hector. It's like a tennis match back and forth of how he feels about following the law or being a vigilante. Those are the two things that are fun to work with in music because music is tension, and tension in notes.

Yes, and also, there's this rage bottling up inside him. He's like keeping it at bay, and you can see it almost surfacing. And then he just suppresses it, so it's nice to see it in the score, too.

Andy: Absolutely, yeah! It really plays out nicely at the end of episode 2 with that scream he does, right when he's confronted in the apartment, and he ends up having to fight back against the cops, and the episode ends with him giving that big shout scream and it just feels like, “Oh, here we go! This is what he's really feeling inside.”

I think we are also kind of expecting him to do something, but then he's just not doing what we want him to do and what his friends want him to do. He's just this closed shell for a while.

Taylor: I don't think he's doing what he wants to do. Yeah, true.

Andy: Yeah... I mean, when we lose someone in our lives, there's always a sense of anger, even if there was no wrongdoing. Just natural life takes its course. And in this situation, the anger that he feels is so much more… It's augmented by the scenario of what he has seen happen to Foggy.

Yes, exactly. So, what does your workflow look like as a composing duo? Do you divide responsibilities or is everything blended from the start? And do you ever have disagreements?

Taylor: Great question. No, normally what we do is we go off on our own and we separate and write different ideas so we don't influence each other. Then we come back, and we filter out what we love, and sometimes I'll write on his ideas or write on mine and then we put forth what we feel is best. I feel like the best idea wins. And I think it's more about how it makes you feel when you watch it at the end of the day. Does it land and does it make you feel something? Can you remember it? Is it memorable if it needs to be? And I think all those questions really kill any ego. I think it's more about serving the show and how we can uplift the show.

It's nice to get into that area because I wasn't expecting you to work separately and then get it all together. I think I expected more blended work from you.

Andy: By the end, it's a big hodgepodge. It's not messy, but it's like all of each of our pieces are sort of blending together, and it's taking elements and having them work together and against each other and so… It's a fun process.

So, when approaching a character as iconic and layered as Daredevil, where do you begin musically? Do you begin with tone, theme, or with a specific scene?

Taylor: In the beginning, we didn't even have video. We're just going off of script, and then we just go off of finding the theme of the character. Sometimes it's more musical than others—for instance, like Muse. Muse has a very minimal amount of notes, whereas Daredevil has a much more musical approach. So I think it's about establishing who that character is, and what we're trying to say with the music. Then from there, we find ways to what kind of arrangement, what kind of palette we're gonna use.

Andy: Yeah, he summed it up perfectly. I would just be making stuff up if I added to that.

When you see a scene on film, do you ever feel like you have to change something? Does that happen often?

Andy: Oh, yeah! Sometimes it works magically, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes you think it's gonna work right, and then you see it against the picture and something just doesn't [work]. Something just doesn't gel; that's the place where you just have to pivot and figure out. The good news about that is, when you find out things that are not working, it's actually even more beneficial than knowing what is working in the early stages of the process because it informs you in a way that you're not informed with when something is working. It's like, “Oh, this is working,” and you've crafted it for a reason to work and it works, but it's not really informing you. That's the goal, obviously, so you want to get there. So it's strange to say this, but in some ways, having things that don't work are very helpful to inform further on what is working and why it's working. That's another reason why it's great to have both of us because a lot of times, trial and error is very important. And it's nice to play that out and see; it's very humbling, the process of scoring. When you're scoring a project, you're creating a piece of music that is doing a dance with a story and characters and lighting and a bunch of other things. You have a partner in this creation. And you're not just like throwing your paint on the wall and going like, “That is my art,” and leaving it alone. It's more like how does that paint that I threw on the wall work with Taylor's paint, and how does that work with the showrunner's paint? It can get tricky, but it's fun.

Did you have early conversations with the directors or with Marvel about the sound or mood they envisioned? How collaborative was that process?

Taylor: We were on quite a long time ago, and because we needed to adjust on our end. That process kind of went back and forth until we got the picture, and then we started applying those pieces and those themes.

About the main theme… It feels like a conversation between the past and present, a kind of musical passing of the torch from [John] Paesano's original score to your new vision for Matt Murdock. When you were building that piece, did it feel like you were scoring Daredevil's legacy as much as the character himself?

Andy: It was about maintaining the legacy of Daredevil, but then also figuring out, in this Born Again series: that story is sort of the plight of Matt Murdock. That was what we set out to do with scoring Matt Murdock, but then also embracing the Daredevil of it all. We knew that we wanted to use John's theme because that is Daredevil, and we, as fans, wanted to not only honor it but also keep who Daredevil is. In this season, we have Matt's character being almost like the alter ego as he is, and that was the approach we took. It was like, let's get into who Matt Murdock is and how Matt Murdock plays into Daredevil, and then coming out of Daredevil, how Daredevil then comes back to Matt Murdock... And that's why the main titles start off with Matt Murdock, lead into Daredevil, and come back to Matt Murdock—basically, kind of bookends. Does that sound right, Taylor?

Taylor: Yeah, it's also about rebuilding, too because he's broken and lost. We start off with such a bang, losing one of his best buddies, and it's about rebuilding Daredevil, and a lot of that is about reflection. Is it doing more harm than good? Can he be just a lawyer and do more for his city and his friends than he can be as a vigilante? So I think, as fans, you're all wanting Daredevil to show up in the suit, you're wanting to see it, but the fact that you also see how much he's struggling —which is hats off to the actors— it just gives you a real sense of where he's coming from and where he wants to be, and I think that was a real fun thing to play with.

There's also a lot of choir and religious-sounding elements in the score. Was that something you planned from the start to reflect Matt's inner struggles and faith?

Andy: Yeah, that's exactly right. In fact, the season opens with just a single female vocal line, acting like the cantor of the city, and that was our approach… That the city would be a character within the series, and the city is calling out to the people: the vigilantes, the Matt Murdocks, the Fisks, the Kingpins etc. And we wanted to make sure we looked at Matt's big arc, his full story, and where he came from, and we wanted to incorporate the church of it all into that with the organ and the choir. The solo voice is intended to be like the cantor at a mass. The choir being the choir, and the organ... Then the other themes are the responses to the calling out from the city. And that's why the very first piece of music in episode one has vocals in it and has organ in it to tee up that element without being over the top with it. We were very careful with the sound of the organ that we picked out, so it wasn't too overbearing, but definitely gave you the sense that you felt a bit of a religious presence.

Absolutely! I love the choir in a soundtrack because it speaks to my soul whenever I hear it.

Andy: The choir has a quality that's strangely very calming, even when it's done in a dark way. We have two hymns that we wrote that are in this season, and those were a call for redemption, and the thought was like, “Let's write actual hymns that are singing about his redemption.” One of them is called "The Lord Near My Shadow," and the idea is like not feeling that he is. Wondering who he is and where salvation is for him… Like, how does that exist through Daredevil, or does that exist through his humanity?

And with X-Men '97 and now Daredevil, you are entering two different corners of the Marvel Universe. How does scoring a street-level hero like Daredevil differ from the high concept world of mutants?

Taylor: We obviously love X-Men, too. I think it's very different because X-Men has these big bold moments of this massive orchestra happening in these big motifs and themes, whereas Daredevil has moments of that, but there's a lot of time for developing characters internally, with what they're struggling with. And with X-Men, it's a lot faster in terms of what it means, even just as a shorter amount of time in terms of the show, and we're moving quickly between stories and characters so the music needs to accompany that, whereas with Daredevil, you can develop things a little bit more over several episodes.

Andy: It's 100 miles an hour with X-Men '97; it's just abrupt shifts, and everything is at 11 out of 10. Daredevil is a totally different approach, different character, different everything... I think that's what makes working on the two of them such a delight for the two of us. We feel so lucky to get to work on these two shows for that reason.

Taylor: Daredevil is such a grounded character… He's such a human being, and his struggles are very relatable. I think musically, it's a different playground with these characters versus Magneto, who can shape and bend the metal and lift up massive structures…

You've worked closely with Mike Flanagan across multiple projects now. The Haunting of Hill House, Bly Manor, Midnight Mass, Doctor Sleep, The Life of Chuck... I can just go on. What has that ongoing collaboration been like for you both creatively and personally? Has your process evolved together over time?

Andy: Yeah, like any life relationship, it definitely evolves over time. We feel incredibly lucky to get to work with Mike on everything, and it feels like it should get easier because we do have a very good shorthand. We know the things that Mike likes and doesn't like, but also Mike is always trying to tell a unique and interesting story. We always want to be in step with what he's doing with that. So for us, the challenge is always reinventing ourselves in a way that we feel like we are on par with his reinventing of himself on each story… He's not reinventing himself, but telling a unique story. And we want to try to be a part of that in telling a unique story each time. So it's hard because we have to challenge ourselves internally on our end to dig into different places and find inspiration. I think a big part of evolving relationships is finding inspiration in life that you can bring back to that relationship and using that to help cultivate a relationship that can grow and prosper and do all the things that relationships do.

Taylor: Absolutely! Mike is incredibly talented. We've been very fortunate enough to see all the things that he creates and does. So, we're always trying to match that and support these stories that he tells the best we can. Then personally, he's just a great human being, and we love him, just this whole family and Kate [Siegel]... He's beyond talented, he's a good guy.

Mike Flanagan and the Newton Brothers. © The Newton Brothers

He's currently developing a Carrie TV series and a Clayface movie for DC. Are you involved in either of those? Could we be hearing your music in a DC project next?

Taylor: I know Mike wrote the script for Clayface. We don't know what goes on behind the scenes. But that would be amazing. And I know he has a lot of projects that he wants to make that are very exciting. So I don't know about Clayface. I do know he is going to be doing Carrie, that was just announced, but we don't know too much about that yet, but I hope to work on that with him.

Andy: We're really excited about The Life of Chuck, too. It's coming out in theaters in a couple of months, and I'm really excited for everybody to see that.

I can't wait to see it! Also, speaking of DC... is there a character you would like to work on?

Taylor: Oh man, that is a great question! I love Swamp Thing, and I love more of the darker characters that tend to be more tragic. I do love Clayface as well. But I think any characters that have a tragedy or some history of struggle because there's so much you can play with musically. Obviously, everybody loves Superman and Batman and all these great characters. They're amazing, but I feel like these other characters that are overlooked deserve a little lift up, and those would be a lot of fun to be part of.

Andy: Yeah, they have done a great job with The Batman. I love Giachhino's score for that. So, that would be so fun to work on, but I wouldn't want to touch that because I loved hearing that score. It was so good. But on another planet, in another place, in another time… I've always enjoyed the character of Batman.

Looking ahead to upcoming seasons of Daredevil: Born Again and X-Men '97, are there any new directions and elements you are excited to explore musically?

Taylor: It'd be great to expand on characters and do more things. In terms of specifics, I think we would be shot in the head if we were to divulge any information. In season one, we had a lot of material that we wrote that were sort of these pieces, and it would be great if we got the opportunity to expand on some of those. I'm hoping to play with more interesting stories.

Andy: Yeah, and just to evolve with them is exciting to us… To see where the writers and the team take the show is always really fascinating, and it's fun because, as Taylor said earlier, we are fans. So like when we get the scripts, it's just like, “Oh my gosh! did you read this?” and “No, I didn't read it yet. Don't say anything!” It's really fun.

Taylor: And it's always so exciting, because everyone's just such big fans themselves. They all have these ideas, and they come together and want to lift it up. So many of the creators we work with love the IP so much, they love the comics so much that it's super exciting coming into those kinds of projects. Any projects where people care that much, where they really are putting everything they can into it, it's always an honor to be on those kinds of projects. Even with Mike, when he writes his stuff, he always puts so much of himself and so much of his own heart in the stuff. We've been very fortunate to work with people who kind of submerge themselves so the excellence of their level of craft is being as high as possible. It's great.

Yeah, it feels like a labor of love.

Taylor: Absolutely, it's a labor of love, yes.

Andy: Yeah, 100%.

One last question I have to ask: Do you have a favorite project or a particular piece you've composed that really stuck with you? Something that you are really proud of.

Andy: Oh, that's a tough question.

Taylor: That is tough. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy… I think we're both really excited to do a theme for Storm because she didn't really have a lot of screen time. We both felt like she needed something that really showcased the awesome character that she is, and that was something we're both very proud of.

And I think trying to find something that tells the story of who Matt Murdock is obviously very rewarding, and it's very tricky because of the pre-existing material and getting it to work, where it's being different from Daredevil, but in the same connection of tissue.

Then I would say with Mike, we worked on this movie called Sonia, and it got retitled Before I Wake, and we co-scored with Danny Elfman. There was a sequence where someone is telling a story about a little boy and there's a lot of changes… It's magical, and it shifts, and that music has always stayed with us as this fantasy and beautiful music. That was probably one scene that I'll always remember:

Andy: I don't think I have a single piece of music only because each project sort of represents a period of time in my life for me. I know that sounds weird, but every time I hear music from a certain show, I'm brought back to what was happening in my life at that time, because typically, Taylor and I are like ensconced in a project when we're working on it. It's like, we eat and breathe that project while we're working on it, and it really becomes the fabric of what's happening for me in my life at those times. So they all hold something for me, if that makes sense. Even music that I wouldn't necessarily say is my favorite music that we've written, it lands for me nicely.

This interview has been edited for clarity.