THE
DEFENDERS.

THE END POINT OF THE NETFLIX DEAL

FROM A 2013 DEAL TO A SHOWRUNNER ANNOUNCEMENT IN APRIL 2016

The team-up was part of Netflix’s plan from the start. Announced on 7 November 2013, Disney’s deal covered series for Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist and Luke Cage, followed by a miniseries bringing them together. Netflix announced on 15 April 2016 that Douglas Petrie and Marco Ramirez, who had run Daredevil Season 2, would be showrunners, with Drew Goddard as an executive producer. Marvel Television’s Jeph Loeb said the addition of Goddard gave them “a team that’s as formidable as the Defenders themselves.”

Petrie left as co-showrunner when filming began, leaving Ramirez in charge. Shooting ran in New York City from 31 October 2016 to 19 March 2017, under the working title Group Therapy.

THE HARD CYNIC AND THE WIDE-EYED INNOCENT

HOW THE WRITERS APPROACHED FOUR VERY DIFFERENT HEROES

In August 2016, Ramirez said the show was not simply television’s version of a film crossover, because the characters’ series “spin in” rather than spinning off, and that the writers had to be careful because the characters are so strong-willed and capable: “Luke has to be Luke. JJ has to be JJ and Danny has to be Danny.” Petrie described the pairings in similar terms, with Jessica and Danny as “the hard cynic and the wide-eyed innocent.” On how the heroes should meet, he said:

“they don’t have to love each other right away, but we’ll love them by the end.”

Douglas Petrie, August 2016

A VILLAIN REVEALED ON STAGE

SIGOURNEY WEAVER AND AN ORIGINAL CHARACTER NAMED ALEXANDRA

Loeb announced Sigourney Weaver as the main villain at the end of the Iron Fist panel at New York Comic Con on 8 October 2016. Weaver walked on stage with Charlie Cox, Krysten Ritter, Mike Colter and Finn Jones, and Loeb said Marvel “needed to find somebody that could take on all these guys.” He did not name her character.

Ramirez later said that Alexandra is “like the thing in the shadows who’s finally walking out,” and that the name was chosen because it “sounded regal.” She is an original character with no comic-book history who controls Elektra, brought back by the Hand as the Black Sky, while Stick, played by Scott Glenn, says she has led the Hand from the beginning.

A SHORTER ORDER THAN THE SOLO SERIES

WHY THE SEASON IS EIGHT EPISODES, NOT THIRTEEN

Ramirez said on 22 August 2017 that scheduling was a big factor, since Mike Colter and Krysten Ritter had to shoot their own shows by set dates, and that Netflix and Marvel were flexible. In his words, “There was never a quota we were trying to fill.”

At San Diego Comic-Con in July 2017, Loeb surprised fans by showing the whole first episode. Netflix released all eight episodes on 18 August 2017. S. J. Clarkson directed the first two and John Paesano composed the music with synthesizers and a 30-piece orchestra.

THE REWATCH

A 78% CRITICS SCORE, MIXED NOTICES AND A STEEP DROP IN VIEWING

Rotten Tomatoes lists a 78% critics’ score from 101 reviews and a 70% audience score. Metacritic gives the season 63 from 30 critics, with 16 positive, 13 mixed and one negative. In early reviews in August 2017, TV Guide’s Alexander Zalben called it “a slow burn, not an explosion,” while USA Today’s Kelly Lawler wrote that Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and even Iron Fist “deserve better.”

Netflix has not published viewing numbers. Its 17 October 2017 data put the series third among its most binge-raced originals worldwide, a measure of members who finished a season within 24 hours of its release. The marketing analytics firm Jumpshot estimated in September 2017 that in its first 30 days the series reached 17 percent of the US viewership of Daredevil Season 2, with the largest week-over-week drops of the Marvel Netflix series.

In the Marvel Marathon it sits in the Marvel TV shows in order guide between Iron Fist Season 1 and Inhumans Season 1, and in the MCU timeline guide between Iron Fist Season 1 and Captain America: Civil War.