Daredevil: Born Again: Ritter on Jessica Jones Return, Initial Plans

Posted in: Disney+, Marvel, TV | Tagged: daredevil, daredevil: born again, Jessica Jones

Daredevil: Born Again: Ritter on Jessica Jones Return, Initial Plans

Daredevil: Born Again star Krysten Ritter discusses her seven-year journey back to Jessica Jones, embracing being a "mama bear," and more.

Published Thu, 23 Apr 2026 07:37:10 -0500
by Tom Chang
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Article Summary

• Daredevil: Born Again brings Krysten Ritter back as Jessica Jones after seven years, with early talks dating to season 1.
• Ritter says Jessica’s season 2 return feels organic as Fisk’s Anti-Vigilante Task Force invades her home.
• Jessica Jones is now a mother, and Ritter says that “mama bear” instinct makes her fiercer and more powerful than ever.
• Ritter reveals she pushed to explore Jessica’s next chapter in Daredevil: Born Again and always believed she’d return.

Daredevil: Born Again had a funny way of reintroducing its season one featured superhero special guest star in Jon Bernthal's Frank Castle/The Punisher, which sees the title character, aka Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox), revisit him at his hideout to assist him as Fisk's (Vincent D'Onofrio) Anti-Vigilante Task Force calls for open season against masked heroes and those who would help them. Not that Frank needs that much convincing, but the only reluctance he has is because he doesn't have any qualms about killing his attackers the way Matt does. It's much simpler with the current season with Krysten Ritter's Jessica Jones, who has a little more organic way into getting pulled into the action as she must deal with Fisk's forces invading her home, and she goes "mama bear" on the AVTF, protecting her daughter, and takes them out (but not killing them). Ritter spoke to Entertainment Weekly about her path to Jessica Jones after seven years away from the role, following the cancellation of her Netflix series of the same name in 2019.

Daredevil: Born Again Star Krysten Ritter on Her Return and What Jessica Jones Has Been Up to Since

When asked how long Ritter's return was discussed, it began with the chaotic first season of Born Again, which saw the transition to showrunner Dario Scardapane from The Punisher. "There was some talk about me appearing in the first season. I think it's like two-and-a-half years ago that we first started hearing a whiff about it. So I was so excited," she said. "They were bringing back a lot of characters, and I was like, 'I wonder if I could bring back Jessica. I have everything ready. I'll be ready.' And then, lucky for me, they did bring Jessica back, and I'm so thrilled. I kept the secret for a long time. I was asked about it constantly, and I just had to come up with new excuses and, I don't know, cute responses."

The timing couldn't be more perfect for misdirection before the official announcement was made. "Then, when I knew I was coming back for season 2, I was also filming Dexter[: Resurrection] at the same time. So that was a fun little diversion because when I got to New York, everybody assumed I was doing Daredevil, and it really was a great way to throw everybody off the track. Little did they know I'd be going straight from Dexter to Daredevil."

As far as whether Ritter thought her return was possible, "I feel like I did always feel like there would be another opportunity to reprise the role because the character is so great and so loved that the fans were really clamoring for her to come back. I always felt like there was more story to tell. The character is so rich, there's so much backstory, there's so much to pull from, there's so much in the comics that we didn't explore." The actress was prepared, having saved some of the essentials from the Melissa Rosenberg-created series. "Oh yeah. I was ready to rock! I had the jacket and the gloves and the boots," Ritter said. "They were hanging in my closet, just ready and waiting — and maybe working their magic from the back of my closet. When we were gearing up to start, I sent everything to Emily Gunshor, the costume designer, so we could rebuild everything and update it.

Jessica's comeback would parallel Ritter's life in some way. "When I first had my initial comeback meeting with Marvel, we sat at the big table, and they asked me, What did I want to explore? What about the character really inspires me to wanna come back? I always thought the fact that she has a kid is a really interesting, exciting character development," she said. "As a mom myself, I just thought what an amazing opportunity for Jessica to have, just even more layers and more to play. For someone like Jessica who doesn't have a family and she's a loner in the world, to give her the gift of a child and what a healing experience and transformative experience that could be for her was very, very exciting to me."

As far as how Jessica's daughter, Danielle, changes her, "It allows Jessica to really step into her fierceness and her strength, in a way, and give her a real solid grounding in the world. Jessica was always kind of reluctant and has a lot of conflicting feelings about her powers and a contempt for them," Ritter said. "She never wanted to punch people. She didn't want to use her powers because of how she got them. I think when you give her a child, there's a fierceness, a mama bear that comes out and gives her real strength and power. That's the coolest part for me, as a mom myself. To be bigger and badder than ever as a result of having a child is really exciting."

For more, including how Ritter talks about Jessica's status as a mother being a driving force, her back-and-forth Defenders banter with Cox, their chemistry, and addressing the rumored Daredevil: Born Again season three behind-the-scenes candid shot of her and Defenders co-stars Mike Colter (Luke Cage) and Finn Jones (Iron Fist), you can check out the entire interview. The series streams on Disney+ every Tuesday.

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