“It took 10 years, but when I read that part, I knew — this is the one,” she says. We are talking the morning of the Jessica Jones premiere in New York, and though she tells me she is exhausted, Ritter looks casually glamorous in an off-duty Hollywood way: light-wash, high-waisted denim, black bodysuit, black blazer, hair just messy enough. “I had these goals written on my refrigerator, and I was not shy about them. I said, 'I want to do a prestigious Netflix or HBO show. I want to play an iconic character, I wanted to be part of a sprawling saga.' So when my agent called with this part, I was like, my fridge notes are working! But I never thought I would get it. I thought, they’ll meet with me for it, and maybe one day in the future use me for something else.”

The “they” she refers to are executive producer Jeph Loeb, who has overseen all of Netflix’s Marvel projects (Daredevil and soon, the multi-character epic The Defenders, in which Ritter will also appear as Jones); and showrunner Melissa Rosenberg, a former head writer on Dexter who also wrote all of the Twilight adaptations for the screen. Rosenberg started developing Jessica Jones with ABC back in 2010. She wanted to create a new kind of female superhero who was allowed to be as flawed and mentally murky as Tony Soprano, and was thrilled to find Jessica Jones in the pages of the Alias comic series.

Jones, as Rosenberg wrote her, is not a traditional superhero by any means: She rejects her powers after a traumatic, abusive event (it would be a spoiler to reveal it, but suffice it to say, the show may be the first Marvel series to openly address rape and violence against women), and goes on to start a detective agency instead. As a private eye, she is devoted to tracking down her former abuser (David Tennant) and trying to stop him from hurting other women, but she stumbles with her powers and her own demons along the way. She’s not always kind, she’s not always doing the right thing. She’s very sardonic and has a dirty mouth. All of these elements together required the kind of actress who could pivot quickly from superstrength to vulnerability — and it’s why, Ritter says, she knew she had to play Jones from the moment she heard about her.