Jessica Jones‘ S.J. Clarkson Confirmed as First Director for The Defenders

Last weekend we reported on the exciting news that Jessica Jones would be bringing on a team of all-female directors on its second season, as confirmed by series showrunner Melissa Rosenberg. With this announcement, the Marvel Netflix series joins the ranks of shows like Queen Sugar in hiring women to direct every episode.

While this will be the first season of a Marvel Netflix show to be entirely directed by women, Jessica Jones also hired three women to direct episodes in its first season–including Rosemary Rodriguez (who spoke to TMS about directing episode 1×10), Uta Briesewitz (who has directed films like Walk Hard and Freaks of Nature) and S.J. Clarkson (who has also directed episodes of shows from Heroes, Dexter and Ugly Betty).

It was confirmed yesterday by Deadline that Clarkson has been picked to helm the first two episodes of The Defenders; she’s also doing double duty on episode one as executive producer. She had previously directed the first two episodes of Jessica Jones. Marvel’s Head of Television Jeph Loeb released a statement on Clarkson’s hiring:

S.J.’s take on the material is outstanding. We loved her work on Marvel’s Jessica Jones and couldn’t think of a more talented and accomplished person to helm the first two episodes of Marvel’s The Defenders.

In addition to the previously mentioned series, Clarkson’s recent work also includes episodes of Orange is the New Black and Vinyl. With this news from Marvel, she becomes the very first director confirmed for The Defenders.

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