It looks like ABC have seen the success Netflix have had with Jessica Jones and have decided they want a piece of the action. Speaking at the Edinburgh Television Festival (as reported by THR), Marvel Television senior VP of original programming Karim Zreik talked about the projects they have in development. As well as mentioning familiar series such as Inhumans and Cloak and Dagger, Zreik revealed that Marvel and ABC are also working on a new show described as “Jessica Jones-esque.”
That’s all we know right now, but it’s enough to get fans excited. The big question is: which Marvel comics property could the show be based off? Well, first we have to ascertain what Zreik means by “Jessica Jones-esque.” The simplest option would be that it’s also based around a female superhero/private detective. This leaves a couple of options given Marvel’s back catalogue. Namely, White Tiger and Spider-Woman. Of the two, White Tiger is more likely, seeing as Spider-Woman’s rights are presumably tied up with Sony.
Fans may remember that Jessica Jones was initially developed by showrunner Melissa Rosenberg for ABC, before the network pulled the plug on the project and it moved over to Netflix instead. From what we can tell, the show would have been very different in its original state. Then titled AKA Jessica Jones, Carol Danvers AKA Captain Marvel would have played the role of Jessica’s confidante, later filled by Trish Walker, which might have prevented the upcoming movie starring Brie Larson from happening.
Zreik also talked about Marvel’s interest in developing comedy programming in the future. She referenced the success of Guardians of the Galaxy as something they wish to emulate.
“Comedy is something we really want to go into. It took us time to dip our foot in the comedy pool.”
She also joked that Marvel would “never do an office comedy.” Presumably, this is a jab at NBC’s Powerless, an office comedy based in the DC universe that didn’t even reach the end of its first season before being cancelled.
We’ll keep you updated with any further news about this Jessica Jones-esque series that surfaces, but in the meantime, tell us, what do you think the studio’s cooking up for us here? Sound off in the usual place.