TV Party Tonight: The Defenders (Season 1)

Winfree and Radulich look at the latest Marvel/Netflix series, The Defenders!

Marvel's The Defenders, or simply The Defenders, is an American web television miniseries created by Douglas Petrie and Marco Ramirez for Netflix, based on the Marvel Comics characters Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist, who form the eponymous superhero team. It is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), sharing continuity with the films of the franchise and is the culmination of a series of interconnected shows from Marvel and Netflix. The miniseries is produced by Marvel Television in association with ABC Studios, Nine and a Half Fingers, Inc., and Goddard Textiles, with Ramirez serving as showrunner.

The limited series stars Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock / Daredevil, Krysten Ritter as Jessica Jones, Mike Colter as Luke Cage, and Finn Jones as Danny Rand / Iron Fist, all reprising their roles from their individual series. The miniseries also stars Eka Darville, Elden Henson, Jessica Henwick, Simone Missick, Ramón Rodríguez, Rachael Taylor, Deborah Ann Woll, Élodie Yung, Rosario Dawson, Scott Glenn, and Sigourney Weaver. Development on the miniseries began in late 2013, with Cox the first actor cast in May 2014. Petrie and Ramirez joined as showrunners in April, after serving in the same role on the second season of Daredevil, though Petrie left with the start of filming, which took place in New York City from October 2016 to March 2017.

The Defenders premiered in New York on July 31, 2017, with the full season of eight episodes released on August 18, 2017 on Netflix.