Comic book TV landed one of its best castings when the iconic Sigourney Weaver signed on to play the mysterious big bad for Netflix's upcoming team-up miniseries The Defenders. And thankfully, it sounds like everything is going swimmingly on the set, with one reason perhaps more important than others inspiring Weaver's happiness. Here's how the actress put it.
Basically the four heroes come up against this really nice woman, who I'm playing. It's been a blast and I really love my character. I love the shows, too, which I wasn't familiar with before doing this. A real love letter to New York. To me they're not superheroes; they're people with a gift. It's just a different scale, and I'm really enjoying the scale of it. The apocalyptic thing is a little harder for me to understand.
Sigourney Weaver sounds like she couldn't be much happier with her time on the set of The Defenders, and one of those reasons perfectly matches up with why Netflix's Marvel series have been so well received: the fate of the planet is not at stake every single second. As she put it to Fandango, the scale of it all appealed to her, which makes sense for someone whose breakout role was realized within the confines of spacecraft.
After years of big screen comic book blockbusters completely destroying entire cities and then some, it was a surprising revelation to see Daredevil spinning a more personal and close-knit narrative out of the Hero vs. Villain conceit, keeping the action largely within a single neighborhood. Thank goodness that followed suit with both Jessica Jones and Luke Cage, or Weaver might not have been so gung ho about her time on The Defenders.
Plus, we can't assume her overall feelings would have been so positive had this group of superheroes formed in Walla Walla, Washington. Sigourney Weaver is Manhattan-born, and while some roles may take the actress out of New York, they can't take the New York out of her. One of Weavers' most iconic roles obviously comes from the Ghostbusters films, which were also intrinsically tied to the city, so it'll be interesting to see if The Defenders can come anywhere close to connecting her villain with the location in as memorable a way. Probably not, but I can't wait to see it try, anyway.
Sigourney Weaver's detail-free-for-now villain may be one of the sweetest aspects of The Defenders, but she is far from being the only person we'll see on screen. We've got the four main standalone heroes - Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist - as well as a bunch of their friends, coworkers and colleagues, most notably the connective tissue of Rosario Dawson's Claire Temple. And let no one forget that The Punisher will also be around, so watch out, Ms. Weaver's character.
Sigourney Weaver can next be seen on the big screen in the highly acclaimed drama A Monster Calls, which comes out on Friday, January 6, 2017. The Defenders is set to drop its eight-episode season on Netflix at some point in 2017, following the release of Iron Fist Season 1. To check out what the streaming service will bring to its subscribers next year, our 2017 Netflix schedule is all you need, and then head to our midseason premiere schedule to see what else is coming to the small screen in the near future.
