Krysten Ritter is quick to mention that she never fancied herself a superhero actor. She’s not even, she believes, what you expect a comic-book heroine to look like.
But a casting director whom Ritter knew asked her to try out for Marvel’s new Netflix series, “Jessica Jones” (which debuted Friday), and the 33-year-old actress — so known for roles in “Breaking Bad” and “Don’t Trust the B in Apartment 23” — soon found herself cast as the title character on a comics-inspired show, playing a street-level antihero.
Once Ritter learned she was the next “Defender” of Hells Kitchen, she embarked on what she called an enjoyable reading binge about all things Jessica Jones.
“I started doing some research (with the comics) and was so pleasantly surprised by every step of the process, learning more about the character,” Ritter told The Washington Post. “How complex she was. How dark the material was. The fact that it is also Marvel and a part of this global super-brand and huge, expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe. It just kept getting better with each piece of information I was given.”
Being a part of Marvel’s interconnected cinematic universe that extends to their television works is great, Ritter said. But the actress is most enthused by the Netflix formula that allows “Jessica Jones” to approach the darkest and grittiest of material, which would otherwise have no place in Marvel’s live-action offerings.
“That’s been the fun part for me. Being a part of the Marvel world — but being a part of them doing something so different (with Netflix) that it is a total departure from the movies from Marvel as we know it — is so exciting,” Ritter said. “You have this giant support behind you, but this is such a dark, character-driven … really an actor’s piece.
“It’s a role that sometimes you only find in dark, tiny little (independent films), in terms of the complexity and the amount of (character) development,” she said. “So honestly, I feel like I kind of won the lottery.”
Ritter’s Jones is a retired superhero who has beyond-above-average strength, though not the best flying ability (think of it as an extended jump). And she might have had the superhero life of her Avengers peers, but that is not where viewers will meet her.
Instead, we find Jones in the darkest shadows of Hells Kitchen, trying to piece her life together after coming across a villain (David Tennant’s Kilgrave, who will be “Jessica Jones” main bad guy) who makes her realize that a brightly costumed, PG-13 superhero life will sometimes only help you discover how dark and R-rated things can really be.
“She’s rebuilding her life as a private investigator in New York City,” Ritter said. “She’s very rough around the edges. She doesn’t involve herself in any social communities. She keeps her world very small.”
Jessica’s isolated life as a failed superhero brings with it a surprisingly understanding companion when she comes across Luke Cage (Mike Colter).
“I loved in the comic books, more than anything, the relationship with Luke Cage,” she continued. “It’s a relationship we haven’t really seen before.”
Ritter said that any apparent on-screen chemistry when viewers first meet Jones and Cage can be attributed to her and Colter being a part of “Jessica Jones” from the very beginning — starting with having to audition on the same day.
As for Tennant’s Kilgrave, on the other hand, Ritter said that the two didn’t film much together when production on “Jessica Jones” started, but once they were together, she found herself watching in awe.
“That guy (Tennant) can take a five-page scene and do it over and over a million different ways each time and still hit every line,” Ritter said. “Working with him because of the character dynamic, I got to kind of watch him and enjoy that.”
