'Jessica Jones' Season 2 Won't Premiere Before 'Defenders'

Our long national nightmare abated this morning with news that Jessica Jones would indeed return for a Netflix Season 2, though given the prolonged announcement, it remained unclear if we could expect Krysten Ritter’s continuing misadventures in 2016. Now, a new report seemingly confirms that Jessica Season 2 would take a backseat to Netflix teamup The Defenders, perhaps premiering in 2017 or later.

Take this with a grain of salt for the moment, but where Jessica Jones’ creative team reportedly learned only this morning that the Marvel superheroine had earned a second season, TVLine took a comment from Netflix creative boss Ted Sarandos to mean that Season 2 would have to follow The Defenders:

The complex [part] is really running into The Defenders. [That] production schedule will affect a lot of the Season 2 and Season 3 outputs [for other Marvel projects].

That in and of itself doesn’t exactly sound like a confirmation, while Sarandos also said in response to scheduling the different Marvel series:

Right now, these are produced at the scale of a major film, so there are long production times and long post times. In some case, when we have character crossover, it makes it more difficult to manage production. It’s not the goal to put out more than one or two out a year.

Were that the case, it might stand to reason that Daredevil Season 2 and Luke Cage fill the slots for 2016, leaving Iron Fist and The Defenders for 2017 (discounting a Daredevil Season 3 or Punisher spinoff), while Jessica Jones showrunner Melissa Rosenberg previously said of Season 2:

I hope [there's room for Jessica Jones Season 2 before The Defenders]. There certainly is storytelling wise. The question becomes is there actual time? There are logistics involved, because Defenders has to shoot by a certain time, contractually. Actually, I’m not sure; I’m not at all involved in those conversations, much to my dismay. The first question is whether or not we will even get a second season. The second question is, if so, when? Will it be before The Defenders or after? I’d certainly love it to be before but there are things that play into that — time, availability.

Neither Netflix nor Marvel have expressed any certainty of the schedule beyond Luke Cage, but might Jessica Jones Season 2 end up a year or two down the line after all? What can we expect from a second season, before or after The Defenders?

Check Out 100 TV Facts You May Not Know!