Now that the ‘Twilight’ movie series is pretty much coming to an end, screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg is focusing her sights on her other projects including a possible new ABC series ‘AKA Jessica Jones.’ Not much was said about the series when we first reported on it other than the lead character is a former superhero that suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSS) and gave up costumed crime fighting to become a private detective. Rosenberg signed on to write and executive produce the series. Now Rosenberg has given more details about the series and it has many Marvel fans excited.
First off, she confirms that the series is a real deal and that they are just waiting for ABC to green light a pilot. The script for the pilot is already written and has the characters Luke Cage (Power Man)and Carol Danvers (Ms. Marvel) as main players. Also in the current pilot script are Tony Stark and Stark Industries.
Rosenberg also confirmed that the TV series would absolutely take place in the “cinematic” Marvel Universe established by such films as ‘Iron Man’, ‘Thor’ and ‘The Avengers.’ “We are in no way denying that that universe exists,” she says, “And as much as I can, I’m going to pull everything in from there that I can use.” The drawback, however, is that can’t reference every Marvel superhero. “It’s very tricky navigation there. You can’t mention one guy because Fox has the rights to that guy and Universal has the rights to the other one. There are a lot of boundaries on who you can and can’t use,” Rosenberg reveals. So although Ant Man plays a big role in Jessica’s comic history, unless the powers that be who own the film rights allow Rosenberg to use the character, they will most likely not be used. Rosenberg adds, “As we go along things will alter in terms of what is made available to us, but we’re definitely in that universe.”
Also part of the series will be The Purple Man. In the comic, he has Jessica under his mind control for a long time and eventually makes her attack the Avengers who almost kill her until she breaks free of his powers. Rosenberg won’t confirm if he will retain his name but states she plans on him being a big part of the series as he is partly the cause of her PTSS. He will be a huge part of the first season plot and probably all through the series once they get the green light to produce it. As for the purple skin? “I doubt it,” she states, “It may become too cartoony for the tone of it. But who knows? …I’m open to interpretations of him. The tone of this (series) is very gritty and very real, and I’m not sure if purple skin will do it. Maybe he’ll put on a purple suit…”
With the failed TV version of ‘Wonder Woman’, many feel that this may affect ABC’s decision to green light the pilot. However, Rosenberg feels confident that it won’t affect her show.” I think one of the major differences between Wonder Woman and Jessica Jones is that Wonder Woman is iconic and much better known, so you get into a lot of ridiculous expectations, like what’s her costume going to look like? Well, nobody knows who Jessica Jones is, except for fangirls and boys. So we have more freedom to actually bring the character to the screen in a way with a lot fewer expectations.” The show is said to be darker and grittier than ‘Wonder Woman’ and are complete opposites from one another.
Hopefully, ABC will make a decision soon to have the pilot made as the revelations of what Rosenberg has planned for the series sounds like it would make a great watch. As with all things in development we’ll just have to wait and see. So who else is as excited as I am for this series?
