Krysten Ritter Celebrates Jessica Jones as “a Show That Can Express the Anger” of #MeToo and #TimesUp
**Warning: Contains light spoilers about the nature of a sub-plot of Jessica Jones Season Two.**
Jessica Jones star Krysten Ritter recently sat down with The Hollywood Reporter to discuss the show’s second season. I got to watch the first five episodes—which were still psychologically fascinating and moving, despite an unfortunate and uninteresting shadow corporation plot—and the entire season will be available on Netflix tomorrow, March 8, 2018 (International Women’s Day).
The second season builds on the first, without much of a digression into Jessica’s adventures in The Defenders. “With The Defenders, we’re dealing with a big, fun, action-packed ensemble,” star Krysten Ritter said. “This show has a completely different DNA.”
And that DNA is often righteously angry. As part of the second season, Jessica and her friends encounter a Hollywood director who uses his power to sexually exploit the young actresses he works with. “We finished shooting before the #MeToo movement,” Ritter explained, “and we were all kind of like, ‘Wow.’ It’s a completely crazy coincidence. When all of that started coming out, we were all texting each other: ‘Holy shit. We’re doing this on our show!’ The #MeToo movement started in October, I believe, and we finished shooting on Oct. 1.”
“It’s pretty intense and uncanny,” she continued, “but also it’s cool and exciting to have a show that can express the anger that a lot of people are feeling. I love Jessica Jones because of the work I get to do and the material as an actress. But obviously, the fact that we participate in a huge social conversation? It’s amazing. It doesn’t happen every day that you’re on a show you love doing and acting in that also inspires a lot of social conversations.”
However, while the show is definitely part of larger social conversations, its focus remains on the characters. “With Jessica Jones, we’re focused on the psychology of Jessica Jones,” she says. “That’s what we’re showing. Some obviously very heavy subject matter … [Season Two] just felt like an evolution. It felt like we got on this train and we kept moving.”
“The main goal for myself and [Rosenberg] and the writers was to go deeper [in this season],” she explained. “I wanted to explore Jessica’s past, and find out when she became so dark. When did she become so colorless? And why? Why is she like this? We need more. We need more information. Shit was fucked up way before Kilgrave (David Tennant). There’s a lot to mine there.”
Season Two of Jessica Jones returns to Netflix on International Women’s Day (March 8, 2018).
(via The Hollywood Reporter, image: Netflix)
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