With Jessica Jones premiering on Netflix today, the star behind Marvel’s latest small-screen adventure, Krysten Ritter, has been front and center singing her praises of the titular PI.
According to a recent interview with Variety , one of the reasons behind that joy comes from the way the producers chose to handle Jones’ sordid past, including a history of abuse at the hands of the show’s main villain, played by David Tennant.
“This is one of the only parts that I’ve seen where I don’t have to get naked,” Ritter began. “There is the history of assault, yes, but we don’t depict it. It’s not literally on your screen. We’re dealing with the aftermath and the emotional struggles and how that affects her, but it’s rare.”
The nuanced method that showrunner Melissa Rosenberg and executive producer Jeph Loeb chose to take the character was one of the major perks for Ritter, who wasn’t looking to bare all onscreen just to validate Jessica’s trauma.
“I don’t really enjoy doing things like that — I don’t like sex scenes. I don’t like stuff like that and a lot of times, it’s… ‘oh, but you have to get naked,’ or ‘oh, but you’re going to do this terrible sex scene that makes you really uncomfortable’ or a rape scene. And the only part that I really think of in the past, I don’t know, six years, that was an amazing female [lead] role that didn’t have to do all of those things is Zero Dark Thirty and now Jessica Jones , and that’s a huge thing to say, but that’s how I feel.”
Jessica Jones is the latest in Marvel’s small-screen escapades that include last year’s successful first season of the critically acclaimed show Daredevil and the ABC drama Agents of Shield , now in it’s third season. The story is based on the popular comic Alias , written by Marvel all-star Brian Michael Bendis, whose work also partly inspired the aforementioned Daredevil run as well as stints on the cartoon for Ultimate Spider-Man on MTV.
[Warning: Potential Spoilers Ahead]
And while Jessica Jones deals within the Marvel Universe, as was the case with Daredevil , it also leans away from capes, tights, and super powers, instead delving into the darker, more mundane world these heroes occupy. According to Bustle , in the comics, Jessica was just an average high school student whose life got turned upside down on a family road trip that ended in tragedy.
Granted super powers following the accident, Jones eventually crossed paths with a villain called Kilgrave, played by David Tennant, who used his mental capabilities to imprison Jones and inflict different mental and physical torture upon her. Years removed from that horrible point in her life, Jones is now a PI with major issues to overcome thanks to Kilgrave.
And while the bulk of the show will focus on the aftermath for Jones and the re-emergence of Kilgrave in her life, Jessica Jones also lays the groundwork for the much-hyped Defenders crossover series that will eventually come to Netflix. As far as what Krysten Ritter can talk about, however, at this point, isn’t very much.
“I have no idea. They don’t really tell me much, but I really looking forward to the Defenders because it will be Mike, and I, and Charlie and I don’t who’s playing the other guy yet, but that’ll be fun.”
The “other guy” Ritter speaks of is a character known in the comics’ world as Iron Fist, a role that has either yet to have been cast or at the very least announced. Mike Colter, who will play Luke Cage and appear in Defenders , will make his debut in Jessica Jones .
[Photo by Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images]