‘The Defenders’ Recruits ‘Jessica Jones’ Director For First Two Episodes
Everything we know for sure aboutThe Defenderscan be neatly folded into one relatively simple sentence. Here goes. Ahem:The Defendersis an eight-episode series executive produced byDaredevil’s Douglas Petrie, and Marco Ramirez will see the lead characters fromDaredevil,Jessica Jones,Luke Cage, andIron Fistteaming up to take on a larger threat anda lead villain played by Sigourney Weaver. Almost everything else, including the most-likely-true theory that this makeshift superhero team will be taking on the evil ninja organization known as The Hand (introduced inDaredevilseason 2), is pretty much speculation at this point.
But now we can add another piece of information in the “known facts” column. Director and Marvel veteranS.J. Clarksonhas been brought on to direct episodes ofThe Defenders.
Deadlinebroke the news of Clarkson’s hiring, noting that she will call the shots on episodes one and two of the series. Clarkson previously helmed the first two episodes ofJessica Jones(“AKA Ladies Night” and “AKA Crush Syndrome”), where she struck a delicate balance between strong character work, super-powered fight scenes, and moody atmosphere. Her other credits include episodes ofBates Motel,Vinyl,Orange is the New Black,Banshee, andDexter.
Jeph Loeb, Marvel’s head of television, released this statement:
S.J.’s take on the material is outstanding. We loved her work on Marvel’s Jessica Jones and couldn’t think of a more talented and accomplished person to helm the first two episodes of Marvel’s The Defenders.
While this is a promising start because Clarkson is a talented director who has experience working on Marvel’s Netflix shows, there’s another layer to appreciate here. Just a few days ago, we wrote about howJessica Jonesseason 2will be directed entirely by womenand how this was an important gesture in an industry that is, and let’s not mince words, typically male-dominated and sexist. Bringing on a woman to helm 25% of your big superhero team-up series is another baby step forward and (Maybe? Possibly? Hopefully?) indicative of more diversity behind the camera on future shows. It’s a start, at least.
The Defendersstill doesn’t have a release date yet, but it will begin filming later this year for a 2017 release date. In the meantime, we can still look forward the first season ofIron First, which will arrive on Netflix on June 09, 2025.
