ABC Developing ‘Jessica Jones-esque’ Marvel Television Series

It seems ABC might have some regrets on passing up Jessica Jones and is now looking to remedy that.

During the Edinburgh TV Festival, Marvel Television senior VP of original programming Karim Zreik spoke to THR about several projects in development. In addition to Marvel’s Inhumans and Cloak and Dagger, it appears they have a new project in development with ABC, which Zreik described as “It’s Jessica Jones-esque.”

Marvel fans might remember that ABC had the first chance to nab Jessica Jones back in 2010. Jessica Jones executive producer Melissa Rosenberg had already started development on the series with ABC specifically in mind. The show was at the time called “AKA Jessica Jones”, a nice nod to the original comic series title “Alias” without confusing it with the other Alias that also resided on ABC (with Jennifer Garner).

Jessica Jones was pitched to ABC and even announced as under development along with Hulk, Mockingbird, and a Cloak and Dagger series. As fans know now, all of those fell through, save for Mockingbird, who made her debut on ABC’s Agents of SHIELD later on.

It wasn’t until 2013 that the character would get new life thanks to the deal between Marvel and Netflix. Seeing the show now it would be hard to imagine the darker tone fitting in with ABC’s more family friendly lineup. Still, they have to be a bit regretful of passing up a show so critically lauded, and it seems they are taking steps to get one of their own.

AKA Jessica Jones would have also featured a big casting change. In the current version, Jessica’s best friend is Trish Walker, who Marvel fans will know as Hellcat. While she hasn’t embraced the costume or title just yet, originally she wasn’t going to be in the series at all. The original pitch was to have Carol Danvers be Jessica’s best friend, with Captain Marvel debuting on the television side of things first.

That would have been a big change, especially considering that Danvers has been catapulted to the MCU for her anticipated solo film. Brie Larson will be playing the beloved role on the big screen, so it seems it all worked out for the best.