The Marvel universe on Netflix has produced several exceptional standalone series that introduced audiences to characters like Jessica Jones, Daredevil, and Luke Cage. Iron Fist will soon premiere a show of his own, and the four heroes are set to team up to fight a big baddie together in The Defenders. Krysten Ritter made her debut as the leading lady of Jessica Jones in 2015. Jessica will play an important part in The Defenders, and Krysten Ritter is already on board for a Season 2. She explained her enthusiasm, saying this:
With Jessica Jones, I'm in almost every frame of the show. This is spread out so we're all working about three days a week. We're all in celebration of that. It's honestly kind of a dream job. If they want to do a Defenders 2. I'm in.
Jessica Jones Season 1 was as much an introspective look at a young woman's recovery from a terrible trauma as it was a superhero series, and Jessica really was needed for most of the scenes of the first 13 episodes. Sure, characters like Kilgrave and Trish and Luke Cage got their fair share of screen time, but Jessica was always around doing something. Given the sheer volume of action combined with the the intense emotional material, it's understandable why Krysten Ritter is enjoying a lighter filming schedule for The Defenders.
Krysten Ritter's reveal to EW about why she's game for a Season 2 of The Defenders also indicates that the four superheroes will be getting around the same amount of time on screen. The Defenders had the potential to go the way of The Avengers and pretty much focus on only a couple members of the big team, but it sounds like Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist will get equal focus on The Defenders. Jessica will be the character who has been off-screen the longest, as Daredevil got a second season in early 2016, Luke Cage debuted in late 2016, and Iron Fist will become available a few months into 2017. Jessica Jones fans will probably be reassured by Ritter's comments about three days a week of work for all four leads.
It should be interesting to see how the filming for the four leads overlaps. Iron Fist will bring a mystical element to the Marvel Netflix universe, and there will probably be some fun when Jessica and the other more grounded heroes encounter the man with the magic fist for the first time in The Defenders. At the very least, poor Claire Temple will probably have a sensory overload when she shows up. She's already encountered Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and Luke Cage in their own series; throw them all together with Iron Fist for one big adventure against a badass new villain, and Claire may need a vacation in the near future.
No release date has yet been set for The Defenders, but we can expect the series to hit the web on Netflix at some point in summer 2017. Take a look at our Netflix premiere schedule to see what you can watch on the streaming service in the meantime, and don't forget to check out our breakdown of what we know so far about The Defenders for a peek ahead.
