WARNING: This article contains SPOILERS for Season 1 of Jessica Jones.
The finale of Season 1 of Jessica Jones featured one of the most satisfying kills in TV history. Having been tortured and abused by the insane Kilgrave, Jessica tells her nemesis that she loves him. Then snaps his neck. The murder packs a serious emotional punch, with Jones finally free of the man who had been controlling minds, killing innocents, and making her life a waking nightmare.
So it came as something of a surprise when Entertainment Weekly Tweeted the following…
He's back, @JessicaJones. David Tennant is returning as Kilgrave in the @Marvel show's second season: https://t.co/A9PuV2pTFT pic.twitter.com/PGEaPoUFhK
— Entertainment Weekly (@EW) August 15, 2017
In the article that the Tweet linked to, EW stated that “Marvel is keeping specific details of [David] Tennant’s involvement under wraps”, alongside the below photo of Tennant and Krysten Ritter on the set of Season 2, which is currently shooting.
So What’s Going on With Kilgrave?
Comics have always found a way to bring their superheroes and villains back from the dead, so why shouldn’t TV be the same? The following are a few suggestions for how Kilgrave could appear in Season 2 of Jessica Jones…
The Hand Brings Kilgrave Back to Life
At the end of Season 2 of Daredevil, The Hand dug up Elektra’s body and placed her in a mysterious stone coffin. We know from The Defenders trailer that said device brings Elektra back to life. We also know that Jessica Jones will be going toe-to-toe with the shady organization in the team-up series. So if she helps defeat The Hand, it would make sense for them to exhume her greatest enemy for revenge.
Kilgrave Brings Himself Back to Life
In the comics, Zebediah Killgrave possesses regenerative healing powers. As our wiki page explains, “His body has been mutated so that he is able to recover rapidly from trauma and to heal from severe injuries. In at least one instance, he entered a death-like state while his body healed itself.” In one storyline, he even recovered from being hit and killed by a train. So a simple broken neck is unlikely to be a problem.
Kilgrave Appears Via Flashback
Kilgrave messed with Jessica’s mind in life so why shouldn’t he do the same during death? Season 1 dealt with her post-traumatic stress, and his murder doesn’t mean that stress will just go away. Kilgrave could still be haunting Jessica’s dreams, while she may be having flashbacks to the terrible things he’s done in the past, or hallucinations of horrible things he could be doing in the present. Both options pave the way for Kilgrave to return onscreen.
We’ll have to wait awhile to find out, as Season 2 doesn’t drop until early 2018. But you can see Jessica Jones in action long before that, with The Defenders launching on Netflix this Friday (August 18).