After months of keeping the production shrouded in mystery (aside from the occasional set photo here and there), we’re finally starting to get some official word from Marvel Studios’ ‘Jessica Jones.’ After the first stills were released during San Diego Comic-Con, showrunner Melissa Rosenberg finally started discussing Marvel’s second Netflix series scheduled for release later this year. Now, she and Marvel Television President Jeph Loeb have started to weigh in on the characters that will appear on the show.

While speaking to IGN at the Television Critics Association press tour this week, Loeb and Rosenberg went into detail about the key players in the next offering from the popular streaming service’s corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Naturally, things start with Krysten Ritter’s superhero turned private eye at the center of it all:

Rosenberg: “She goes to very dark, emotional places… We beat the crap out of her. You really get her strength of character, not in a noble way necessarily but she’s a tough broad.”

Loeb: “You really understand who she is and where she comes from and what each of us might have done in that similar situation. The viewer has a connection on a level that has nothing to do with powers, nothing to do with costumes, nothing to do with comic books. It has everything to do with being a human being and “What would I do” if that were that case?”

When it came to David Tennant’s Killgrave (who may be better known to True Believers as the Purple Man), Loeb compared the former ‘Doctor Who’ star’s performance to Vincent D’Onofrio’s portrayal of Wilson Fisk in ‘Daredevil’:

“I think one of the things that Melissa handled so beautifully is that there are times where there are questions about what the villain is doing and you will be uncomfortably okay or not so much against what he’s doing. Until you go, “Oh no, you’re really the villain. You really are a horrible person.””

On the topic of Mike Colter’s Luke Cage, who will go on to star in his own Netflix series presumably some time next year, the executive producers shared that he is an integral part of Jones’ story because of how he affects her. But in terms of where he is on his own journey, Cage is in “the early part of the middle” of his story, which means that his backstory and further adventures are being saved for ‘Luke Cage’.

Finally, they addressed the inclusion of classic Marvel heroine Hellcat. Known on the show as Patricia “Trish” Walker, the character played by Rachel Taylor will offer a “unique spin” on her past as a model that “very much works for today’s audience”. But Loeb talked more about why she was chosen to be included in the show:

“Melissa talked about the kind of character that she wanted her to be friends with and that it was important that there was somebody in her life who made it all look easy – but not necessarily felt that way.”

Though this breakdown of the cast sounds pretty good so far, I’m really looking forward to more pictures and a trailer. I’m really curious about just how much of Jones’ past as Jewel the show will explore and they really haven’t touched on that too much yet. But like I said, so far so good on ‘Jessica Jones’ (aside from dropping the “AKA” from the title, which I really liked).

What do you think about these descriptions of the characters on ‘Jessica Jones’? Are you excited about Marvel and Netflix’s next collaboration? Let us know in the comment section.