Jessica Jones Season 3 Features Directorial Debut of Krysten Ritter

The third and final season of Jessica Jones dropped on Netflix Friday. The 13-episode season marks the end of the Marvel Netflix shows with Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and The Punisher having already aired their final seasons, but it also marks a more positive milestone. Jessica Jones season three sees series star Krysten Ritter step away from her front-of-the-camera role as Jessica and go behind the lens in her directorial debut.

Warning: Possible spoilers for Jessica Jones season three below.

Ritter’s directorial debut comes in episode two, “AKA You’re Welcome.” The episode centers on Trish Walker (Rachael Taylor) and her transformation of sorts. In the season two finale, it was teased that Trish had finally acquired the powers that she wanted so badly that she allows Karl Malus experiment on her and nearly kill her in the process when she drops her cell phone and catches on the top of her foot with incredible cat-like reflexes. Now, in season three, the episode shows Trish trying to be a vigilante hero herself in a very erratic, amateur sort of way as well as Trish’s efforts to train and hone her powers in order to carry out her brand of justice. The episode both serves to show what Trish has been up to between the second and third seasons as well as show just how obsessed Trish is with the idea of being a hero with her powers — and how jealous she is, on some level, of Jessica.

Ritter as director on an episode of the third season was first announced last June. At that time, Deadline reported that Ritter would take on the director role for a then-undisclosed episode, with Ritter expressing her excitement in a statement.

“I am beyond thrilled to make my directorial debut on Marvel’s Jessica Jones,” Ritter said last year. “The entire crew and cast has become family to me, and I’m so appreciative of the opportunity to work with our incredible team in this new way. I am so grateful that Melissa Rosenberg, Jeph Loeb, Marvel, and Netflix and entrusted me to take the reins.”

It wasn’t just Ritter who was excited, either. Showrunner Melissa Rosenberg had nothing but praise for Ritter’s directorial debut in an interview last month.

“It’s something she’s wanted to do for a long time and is certainly qualified to do,” Rosenberg told ComicBook.com. “She and I started talking about it last season as well, but she’s in every scene of every episode so it just wasn’t possible. And then, as we were creating season three in the writers’ room, we realized the scene had even been written already and someone went ‘Oh my god! She’s not even really in this!’ So, what a great opportunity.”

As Rosenberg says, the episode she directed worked out smooth as it focuses on the ever-growing cast of Jessica Jones’ supporting characters. According to the award-winning writer, it didn’t take long for the teams at Marvel Television and Netflix to agree to give Ritter the chance to direct the show.

“Marvel agreed to it and Netflix did as well,” reveals Rosenberg. “So I was able to hire her as a director and it was really very serendipitous that it worked out that way. She just fricking nailed it, man. There was no sign whatsoever that she was a first-time director. I’ve worked with directors with far more experience that were not even as near organized and specific”

Jessica Jones season three is now streaming on Netflix.