Krysten Ritter Is Superhero-Turned-Detective ‘Jessica Jones’ in Netflix Trailer

Netflix released the trailer for their upcoming series, Jessica Jones, today (October 23). The show will hew fairly closely to the plot of the Alias comics in which the character first appeared: Jones is a sardonic, hard-drinking New York City detective who's hiding her past as a stalled superhero with powers. She finds an ally in fellow Marvel hero Luke Cage, who sees the literal and figurative super-strength beneath her prickly exterior, and she'll need as many allies as she can get when a villain from her past re-enters her life.

Krysten Ritter plays Jones, Mike Colter plays Luke Cage and Doctor Who's David Tennant plays Zebediah Killgrave, aka her nemesis the Purple Man. Tennant doesn't have purple skin here in the trailer, but maybe Killgrave's covering it with makeup for a later reveal?

As a big fan of the Alias comics written by Brian Michael Bendis and illustrated by Michael Gaydos, this writer had some major reservations about the Jessica Jones series when the project was first announced. Early reports said the show would largely center around Jones' budding relationship with Luke Cage. Jones and Cage do get together in the comics, but it's not the central plot — she's a contemporary of Daredevil and the Avengers; this isn't a rom-com.

Additionally, Ritter looks virtually nothing like the comic book character in its original incarnation, aside from that fact that they're both white women — they didn't even dye her hair red. I'd only seen the actress play variations on the same flip, quirky character on Veronica Mars and Don't Trust the B In Apartment 23. Could she do justice to the surly and formidable Jessica?

Fortunately, the less than three-minute preview is promising. And though Luke is prominent in the trailer, my fears that this series was conceived mostly as a prop for Colter's own upcoming Luke Cage Netflix series seem largely unfounded. At the very least, I'll be watching to find out.

Netflix's 13-episode run will premiere on November 20.

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