Jessica Jones' third season fell victim to one of the most uncomfortable and undesirable situations possible in the world of television and streaming. The Krysten Ritter-led MCU drama was still either months away from returning to Netflix whenever news of Iron Fist's cancellation hit, and the body-slamming heroine's own fate was sealed back in February. Now there's bad news for anyone trumpeting the call for a new season elsewhere: Ritter is kinda glad it's all over now.
While many other stars from Netflix's eradicated MCU corner have been optimistically vocal about making superheroic returns in the future – or super-villainous, in the case of Daredevil's Vincent D'Onofrio – here's what Krysten Ritter had to say when asked about potentially reprising the role of the hard-drinking P.I.
Do I think I’ll play her again? I don’t think so. I feel like I’ve played her, you know? I feel really good about it. I feel good about closing the door.
Now, to be sure, Krysten Ritter hasn't gone so far as to rip up and burn a Jessica Jones Season 4 contract. Things aren't that extreme at the moment. But barring a most unexpectedly unique series revival for J.J., it's likely time for fans to come to accept that Ritter's already iconic take on the emotionally brusque character has likely been sealed and stored away for posterity.
For anyone paying attention to the way things were going for Netflix and the MCU, both behind the scenes and from a critical standpoint, Krysten Ritter's words to TVLine might not be all THAT surprising. Though Daredevil Season 3 was a noteworthy high point for the franchise – and I was personally quite invested in The Punisher's second season – the Defenders' standalone seasons haven't exactly taken the world by storm, and each show's streaming audience reportedly dipped hard between seasons.
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Jessica Jones itself has suffered some of the biggest growing pains of all, relatively speaking. As opposed to Iron Fist, whose second season improved upon its highly panned freshman outing, Jessica Jones started off rather brilliantly thanks to Krysten Ritter's arc opposite David Tennant's gripping villain Kilgrave, and couldn't find the same footing after he surprisingly got killed off. (One of the worst decisions any of these shows made, in my opinion.)
As far as Rotten Tomatoes goes, Season 2 (82%) wasn't nearly as acclaimed as the first season (94%), and Season 3 is currently sitting at 71%, which is a pretty big dip. Reviews were middling at best for Season 3, with critics calling the show out for putting Jessica Jones in the backseat while allowing other characters like Trish, Malcolm and Hogarth to get bigger slices of the narrative. The new villain, played by Russian Doll's Jeremy Bobb, didn't do all that much to move the needle, either.
Still, critical opinions are just that, and these days, the fans can sometimes have the biggest voices of all. So I have a suspicion that if there's any chance for Krysten Ritter to ever return to Jessica Jones for future NYC adventures, it will have to be because the show, character and actress' fanbases all lovingly demanded it to be so.
Who knows? Ritter wouldn't need to commit to a full season of 13 or more TV episodes, or even a movie. She could just pose for a poster meant to be used in the background for Hulu's upcoming Ghost Rider TV show with Gabriel Luna, and that would be a fantastic treat for viewers to catch. Rights issues would likely stop that from happening just yet, and it's not even clear if this Ghost Rider will be connected to the character's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. arc, but maybe the future will clear things up.
While waiting to hear what new projects Krysten Ritter will dive into soon – perhaps more TV directing? – all three seasons of Jessica Jones are currently available to watch right now on Netflix.
