Getting Jessica Jones into Daredevil: Born Again was not as simple as just picking up the phone, and Dario Scardapane has been fairly open about the logistics of making it happen.
Scardapane says Jessica has been part of the conversation since he first joined the show
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly ahead of Season 2’s premiere on March 24, Scardapane confirmed that Jessica Jones had been on his radar since he came aboard during the messy Season 1 overhaul.
“Jessica has been part of the conversation since when I started,” he said. The original plan had her arriving even earlier, with Krysten Ritter herself confirming there was talk of her appearing in Season 1 before the timing simply did not work out.
Part of what complicated things was Ritter’s schedule. While the public was still speculating about whether she would turn up on Daredevil at all, she was simultaneously filming Dexter: Resurrection in New York.
“When I got to New York, everybody assumed I was doing Daredevil, and it really was a great way to throw everybody off the track,” Ritter told EW. “Little did they know I’d be going straight from Dexter to Daredevil.“
When Jessica does arrive, in episode six, she turns up with a daughter and without Luke Cage, which was a very deliberate structural choice on Scardapane’s part. The reason Luke was not there from the start came down to making the reunion mean something.
As Ritter explained, getting Mike Colter back was the one thing she pushed for most. “The most important thing for her character, there, was to bring him.” She volunteered to call Colter personally, and when he finally walked through the door on set, she said she felt emotional.
Scardapane was equally clear about why Jessica specifically made sense for this season over Luke Cage, Danny Rand, or Colleen Wing.
“Jessica Jones, in particular, has interesting life events that we wanted to explore, and the banter between Charlie and Krysten is so damn good. We needed to get that flavor in.”
He also pointed to the vigilante hunting storyline as the natural entry point: she does not wear a mask; she does not hide, which means Fisk coming for her is not a matter of if but when.
The family picture that closes the season finale, with Luke, Jessica, and Danielle together at Alias Investigations, is where Season 3 picks up the thread.
Scardapane confirmed that building out their world has been part of the plan since day one, and with Mike Colter and Finn Jones already confirmed for Season 3, the wait to see how far that goes is not going to be a short one.
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