Jessica Jones is back.
Krysten Ritter is reprising her role of the superhero-turned-private eye, entering the Marvel Cinematic Universe by being cast in season two of Marvel Television’s Daredevil: Born Again.
Ritter starred as Jones in the eponymous Netflix series in the mid-2010s. The series and actress generated considerable acclaim and awards at the time and is considered a highlight during the Netflix era of Marvel television.
The casting announcement was made during Marvel’s portion of Disney’s upfront presentation to advertisers Tuesday.
Marvel’s presentation also included a first look at Wonder Man, the series that offers a meta take on Hollywood and stars Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Ben Kingsley.
The addition of Ritter, who joined Daredevil star Charlie Cox on stage for the reveal, is a boost to Born Again, which officially folds characters and actors from the Netflix-era Marvel series (which weren’t made by Marvel Studios) into the MCU.
Born Again has been a solid performer on Disney+, with the season finale notching an uptick, according to insiders. The show has also lifted the Netflix seasons, which now also stream exclusively on Disney+.
“People were watching it as a season four, not at as a first season,” noted Brad Winderbaum, Marvel’s head of television and animation, speaking to The Hollywood Reporter ahead of the presentation. The exec, a Marvel veteran who only took charge of series in 2021, earlier this year renewed his contract, a sign of confidence from Marvel in his abilities to steer the television ship.
Winderbaum noted that the reaction from audiences has been intense, from the discourse to videos to fan-made art. “It’s given us the confidence of making the show annually into the future,” he said.
The exec remained mum on whether other actors and characters from the Netflix era, notably Mike Colter as Luke Cage and Finn Jones as Iron Fist, would pop up in the future.
“It’s about not rushing and telling the best story,” he deflected. “Yes, it’s exciting to think about characters interacting, but it’s about the reasons why. At times we’ve done that very well, at times we’ve rushed. The story has to lead the path.”
Season two of Daredevil: Born Again will pick up after the cliffhanger of season one, in which crime lord Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio) violently consolidated power, leading Matt Murdock (Cox) to go underground and begin reaching out to allies to resist Fisk and his anti-vigilante task force. Jones will be part of that group of allies.
Marvel has been in recalibrating mode on the television side, and Daredevil represents that new model. The company famously made a splashy TV debut with a string of limited series that featured big-name stars that had appeared, for the most part, in its big-budget tentpole movies. It treated the shows as such, eschewing a traditional TV development process, not even making pilots. It also flooded the zone with numerous titles that made it hard for audiences to keep up. Daredevil was course corrected during its production as Marvel embraced a more traditional development model.
This year is the transition year, with Daredevil bringing in the new and Marvel’s two other shows — Ironheart, the Ryan Coogler-produced, six-episode series which hits June 24, and Wonder Man, which will be eight 30-minutes episodes — representing shows made before the switch. The company will take a wait-and-see approach on whether those titles gets second seasons.
Marvel now wants to develop and focus on shows that will have “seasons,” making one or two live-action shows a year and two animated shows a year. And they will, in many cases, not showcase the big-name Avengers actors.
“Producing shows with marquee names, it made it really challenging to produce second seasons; the margins on TV are smaller,” Winderbaum said. “Looking to the future, does it mean that we won’t have big Avengers names? No. They may not be the titular character of the show, but they can still make appearances.”
Making shows that stand on their own yet still connect to the rest of the Marvel Universe remains a tough balancing act. Some shows lost steam because they were too bonded, making it feel like homework to watch.
“You should be able to watch these shows on their own, without knowing the overall MCU story,” admitted Winderbaum. “But if it’s not connected, it’s severing what makes the MCU the MCU.”
