Full spoilers for Jessica Jones: Season 1 continue below.

Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter) didn't get a stereotypical superhero victory when she defeated her primary antagonist in Season 1 of the Marvel Netflix show. Though she killed Kilgrave (David Tennant) after trying every other possible way to bring him to justice, that climax is not going to allow her to rest easy going forward or galvanize her to pursue the superhero lifestyle.


"That final moment, that victorious, triumphant moment when she killed Kilgrave, I found that very conflicting in terms of Jessica Jones' headspace," Ritter said during Jessica Jones' 2016 winter Television Critics Association press tour panel. "He's the reason why she got up every day. He's the reason why she went out in the world, and it really gave her a purpose. I don't think the past trauma just goes away with his death. I think her headspace is really complex."

Asked if there were any discussions of having Kilgrave being a villain who lasted more than one season simply because he as a character and Tennant as a performer are so engaging, showrunner Melissa Rosenberg laughed. "When you have David Tennant, you want him around forever," she said.

Marvel Head of TV Jeph Loeb elaborated on the decision to have him be a one-season villain, saying, "Your protagonist is often defined by how strong your antagonist is. ... It really have someplace for Krysten and this entire cast to interact with someone who really challenged them."

Jessica Jones is a very personal story about a person conquering their own demons versus being a superhero coming to terms with their own abilities. Though it was an origin story in the sense that it introduced an audience to Marvel TV's version of the comic book character, Season 1 was much more about her coming to terms with and resolving the trauma of her past.

"From the very beginning when we started talking about these characters, it was very clear to us -- and we've spoken to every single one of our showrunners -- is the Avengers are here to save the universe. The Marvel characters that we have are here to save the neighborhood, and sometimes your neighborhood is your office, is your personal life. Your neighborhood is defined by who you are," Loeb said later to a small group interview with reporters.

Of where Jessica can potentially grow from the end of Season 1 into the recently announced Jessica Jones: Season 2, Loeb added, "One of the things that we absolutely know is that all of the things that have happened to her aren't going to magically go away. The end of the series -- and it was one of the things that was very important when we talked about the end of the first series -- was that it wasn't, 'Ooh, I triumphed and now I can get in my hovercar and join the Avengers.' That wasn't the story we were interested in telling."