Jessica Jones is again.

Krysten Ritter is reprising her position of the superhero-turned-private eye, coming into the Marvel Cinematic Universe by being solid in season two of Marvel Tv’s Daredevil: Born Once more.

Ritter starred as Jones within the eponymous Netflix sequence within the mid-2010s. The sequence and actress generated appreciable acclaim and awards on the time and is taken into account a spotlight through the Netflix period of Marvel tv.

The casting announcement was made throughout Marvel’s portion of Disney’s upfront presentation to advertisers Tuesday.

Marvel’s presentation additionally included a primary take a look at Surprise Man, the sequence that provides a meta tackle Hollywood and stars Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Ben Kingsley.

The addition of Ritter, who joined Daredevil star Charlie Cox on stage for the reveal, is a lift to Born Once more, which formally folds characters and actors from the Netflix-era Marvel sequence (which weren’t made by Marvel Studios) into the MCU.

Born Once more has been a strong performer on Disney+, with the season finale notching an uptick, in accordance with insiders. The present has additionally lifted the Netflix seasons, which now additionally stream solely on Disney+.   

“Individuals have been watching it as a season 4, not at as a primary season,” famous Brad Winderbaum, Marvel’s head of tv and animation, chatting with The Hollywood Reporter forward of the presentation. The exec, a Marvel veteran who solely took cost of sequence in 2021, earlier this yr renewed his contract, an indication of confidence from Marvel in his talents to steer the tv ship.

Winderbaum famous that the response from audiences has been intense, from the discourse to movies to fan-made artwork. “It’s given us the arrogance of creating the present yearly into the longer term,” he mentioned.

The exec remained mum on whether or not different actors and characters from the Netflix period, notably Mike Colter as Luke Cage and Finn Jones as Iron Fist, would pop up sooner or later.

“It’s about not dashing and telling the very best story,” he deflected. “Sure, it’s thrilling to consider characters interacting, but it surely’s concerning the explanation why. At occasions we’ve achieved that very properly, at occasions we’ve rushed. The story has to guide the trail.”

Season two of Daredevil: Born Once more will choose up after the cliffhanger of season one, through which crime lord Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio) violently consolidated energy, main Matt Murdock (Cox) to go underground and start reaching out to allies to withstand Fisk and his anti-vigilante activity drive. Jones shall be a part of that group of allies.

Marvel has been in recalibrating mode on the tv facet, and Daredevil represents that new mannequin. The corporate famously made a splashy TV debut with a string of restricted sequence that featured big-name stars that had appeared, for essentially the most half, in its big-budget tentpole films. It handled the exhibits as such, eschewing a conventional TV growth course of, not even making pilots. It additionally flooded the zone with quite a few titles that made it onerous for audiences to maintain up. Daredevil was course corrected throughout its manufacturing as Marvel embraced a extra conventional growth mannequin.

This yr is the transition yr, with Daredevil bringing within the new and Marvel’s two different exhibits — Ironheart, the Ryan Coogler-produced, six-episode sequence which hits June 24, and Surprise Man, which shall be eight 30-minutes episodes — representing exhibits made earlier than the change. The corporate will take a wait-and-see strategy on whether or not these titles will get second seasons.

Marvel now desires to develop and concentrate on exhibits that can have “seasons,” making one or two live-action exhibits a yr and two animated exhibits a yr. And they’re going to, in lots of circumstances, not showcase the big-name Avengers actors.

“Producing exhibits with marquee names, it made it actually difficult to provide second seasons; the margins on TV are smaller,” Winderbaum mentioned. “Trying to the longer term, does it imply that we gained’t have large Avengers names? No. They might not be the titular character of the present, however they’ll nonetheless make appearances.”

Making exhibits that stand on their very own but nonetheless hook up with the remainder of the Marvel Universe stays a troublesome balancing act. Some exhibits misplaced steam as a result of they have been too bonded, making it really feel like homework to observe.

“You need to be capable to watch these exhibits on their very own, with out realizing the general MCU story,” admitted Winderbaum. “But when it’s not related, it’s severing what makes the MCU the MCU.”