Marvel has made a concentrated effort to establish a darker and more grounded tone with their Netflix properties. The critically acclaimed first season of "Daredevil" hit that niche perfectly earlier this year and will be followed by "Jessica Jones" in the fall.
Though Marvel wants their emerging Netflix empire to have a distinct attitude, "Jessica Jones" won't necessarily be "Daredevil" with a female lead. Krysten Ritter ("Breaking Bad") stars as the titular hero and David Tennant ("Doctor Who") will play the primary antagonist, The Purple Man. Both actors bring a different energy to the screen than "Daredevil's" Charlie Cox and Vincent D'Onofrio.
"Jessica Jones" showrunner Melissa Rosenberg discussed the differences between the two series during the 2015 Television Critics Association. She promised that this newest offering won't be just a mere retread of older material as Jones' character (a brash private investigator) stands out as a sharp contrast to Matt Murdock (a humble and righteous lawyer by day, vigilante by night).
"Jessica is about paying rent, getting the next client," Rosenberg said. "She's dealing with a fairly dark past. She's trying to get through the day. She's not really trying to save the city, she's trying to save her apartment. At her core, she wants to do something good. She wants to contribute to the world. But there are a lot of personality issues for her that can get in the way.
"Jessica Jones is a brawler. She gets drunk, she gets pissed off, and boom, you're down. She doesn't wear a costume, she doesn't have a mask. She's just who she is."
Jones is an ex-superhero who spends her days as a private investigator trying to cope with PTSD from her crime-fighting days. It's unknown how faithful the Netflix series will be to the character's comic book origins, but comics writer Brian Michael Bendis says the show if faithful to the source material in tone - a neo-noir TV show "but with its own palette" that singles it out from "Daredevil."
Marvel Television's head Jeph Loeb also touched on the differences between the two series during the 2015 TCA event.
"When we first sat down and started talking about 'Daredevil,' what we said was, for all intents and purposes, it was a crime drama first and a superhero show second. One of the things we've talked a lot about is that 'Jessica' is in many ways a psychological thriller first and then a superhero show second."
"Jessica Jones" is more suited to that classic detective story arc. She comes complete with a tough background, a drinking problem and a nose for investigating mysterious crimes. Similarly, The Purple Man is not your atypical crime boss, what with his ability to control other people via special pheromones. Pitted against one another, the dynamic between the two will be at the forefront of the inaugural season.
"What you get out of 'Jessica' is a sort of hold-your-breath tension as to what's going to happen," Loeb said. "When you see the dynamic between Krysten Ritter and David Tennant...that question of 'What's going to happen next' and 'What could happen next?' and how that's driven by character is something that is so important to not just the scripts but also the way the show is shot, and the way that everyone reacts, and the way those two react with each other."
"Jessica Jones" will debut on Netflix this Fall.
