“”It was very collaborative with this particular character because it was very clear that I was introducing someone else’s lead character for a show. He wasn’t mine to play with,” ‘Jessica Jones’ Showrunner Melissa Rosenberg tells THR.

When Jessica Jones showrunner Melissa Rosenberg sat down to start developing the first season of her critically acclaimed Netflix drama, she faced a unique dilemma. In addition to crafting a compelling comic book series with darker psychological elements mixed in, she also had the responsibility of introducing another Marvel character who would go on to be the lead of his own show: Luke Cage (Mike Colter).

Before Luke Cage was even in its earliest development stages, Luke was already having adventures onJessica Jones as a love interest and ally for Jessica (Krysten Ritter). He was introduced early in season one of Rosenberg’s series as a character with a mysterious past, a tragic backstory and potentially a part in Jessica’s future. Their relationship ended for two reasons: Jessica was responsible for Luke’s wife’s death … and he had to go on to lead his own Marvel series.

So how much influence did Rosenberg actually have in shaping the live-action version of the iconic comic book character versus how many notes Marvel gave her on how to create him?

“It was very collaborative with this particular character because it was very clear that I was introducing someone else’s lead character for a show,” Rosenberg tells The Hollywood Reporter. “He wasn’t mine to play with. So I really wanted the input. I wanted to be respectful of the canon and his place in the universe.”

According to Rosenberg, there were a few people who helped her stay on track when it came to being faithful to Luke’s comic book persona.

“Fortunately, I had amongst my staff a die-hard Luke Cage fan, and he was instrumental in really guiding that character,” says Rosenberg. “[Marvel TV head] Jeph [Loeb] was also really, really clear about that. I didn’t have a lot of interaction with Cheo [Coker], who [created] Luke Cage, because he came on after I started…”

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