JESSICA JONES
Jessica Jones is back for a second solo run — her complexities (and bad habits) still intact
The glorious return of our favourite Defender. Sorry, Iron Fist.
IF YOU THOUGHT joining rag-tag, unofficial superteam The Defenders might blunt Jessica Jones’ (Krysten Ritter) edges — maybe even socialise her a little — think again. The harddrinking, super-strong Hell’s Kitchen private eye with the permanently broken office door is as cynical and damaged as ever for her second solo beat in Season 2.
Hell, it’s not even like she’s clear of her Kilgrave trauma, with David Tennant’s malevolent mind-manipulator somehow still in the show, even though — spoiler alert — Jessica snapped the smirking villain’s neck at the climax of the first season. Not that series creator and showrunner Melissa Rosenberg is complaining. “I just love him,” she says of her Purple Man. “But I’ll leave his role in this season a mystery.”
That said, Rosenberg insists that while the abuse and PTSD Jessica suffered at Kilgrave’s hands (or rather, neurones) “are part of Jessica’s character” and “will always play a role in our series”, they “aren’t the focus of Season 2”.
What the new focus exactly is is something else Rosenberg and Marvel/ Netflix are leaving open to speculation. No villain has been confirmed (though the smart money is on it being schizoid assassin Typhoid Mary), and while Oscarnominated British actor Janet Mcteer has been announced as joining the cast, her precise role remains ominously undisclosed. However, Rosenberg tells Empire, “We’re always digging deeper into Jessica’s character and this season we’re peeling back even more layers, revealing more about the experiences that have shaped her present-day life.”
Intriguingly, she cites “noir thrillers and character dramas” as sources of
inspiration for her writers’ room, and “sometimes horror and action movies”, though their creative lodestone remains, of course, the original Alias comic by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Gaydos (“Fans will definitely recognise moments from the book”).
And, with Jessica unapologetically unreformed by her first superteam experience, we’re guessing she’s still hitting the liquor? “As long as there are dive bars and dirty clients,” says Rosenberg, laconically. Same again? JESSICA JONES IS ON NETFLIX FROM 8 MARCH