'Defenders' May Not Get A Second Season, Says Krysten Ritter

After two years of buildup across four shows, ‘The Defenders’ debuted on Netflix. The series united the eponymous stars of ‘Daredevil‘, ‘Jessica Jones‘, ‘Luke Cage‘, and ‘Iron Fist‘ against the machinations of the Hand. Some – like Jones and Cage – had prior history and the series itself teased the possibility of future history between others – the classic duo of Power Man and Iron Fist, primarily – leaving little doubt that the characters’ paths will continue to cross in the future. But what of the team? Will the Defenders reunite for a second season?

That’s the question. While the show didn’t go over quite as well as, say, ‘Jessica Jones’, it also didn’t take the same sort of drubbing that ‘Iron Fist’ (which does have a second season on the way) did just a few months earlier. Speaking to Vulture ahead of this week’s second season premiere of ‘Jessica Jones’, star Krysten Ritter was asked about the Defenders’ future. Here’s what she had to say:

“I had a great time doing ‘The Defenders’ and honestly, it was such a good experience that I would do it again. I don’t think we are doing it again. It was never intentioned to do it again, but, you know, if I was given another opportunity, I would. My heart is with my show because of the subject matter and because of the great drama that we get to do and the personal issues that we explore. For me, that is more the type of content that I enjoy as a viewer and as a performer. My heart is in ‘Jessica Jones’, but I did have a great time doing ‘The Defenders’ with the guys. We had a good time. It is what it is.”

While this doesn’t necessarily mean that the ‘The Defenders’ won’t continue, it does mean that it won’t be doing so anytime soon. In contrast to Marvel’s other Netflix programming, ‘The Defenders was always presented as an event series, something that the other shows would build toward in a manner that was typically compared to the first cycle of Marvel films building toward ‘The Avengers’. If a second season were planned, it would likely be too soon to have anything definite planned out. In addition, the comic book version of the Defenders has always been (in contrast to the Avengers) something of an ad-hoc team, with members coming together when needed and then going their separate ways. With that in mind, it certainly wouldn’t be out of the realm of plausibility for these team-ups to be a “one and done” or “once in a very great while” sort of affair.

‘Jessica Jones’ features returning stars Krysten Ritter, Rachael Taylor, Carrie-Ann Moss, and Eka Darville alongside newcomers Janet McTeer and J.R. Ramirez. The second season of the acclaimed superhero drama will be available to stream on Netflix beginning on March 8, 2018.