Sigourney Weaver’s Character in ‘The Defenders’ is More an Adversary Than a Villain
The Defender’s premiere is just around the corner, and although we know that Sigourney Weaver is going to be the antagonist of the season, there details of her character that remain unknown.
In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Weaver revealed some details about her character, beginning with the clarification that she’s not a villain, she’s an adversary.
Sigourney Weaver in The Defenders
According to her, calling Alexandra (her character) a villain would imply heartlessness and cruelty, traits that don’t apply to her latest character:
“With my work in general, I try to avoid terms like ‘ice queen’ that are often thrown at women who aren’t completely sympathetic. I encouraged [the writers of the show] to not think in those terms, because I find them completely meaningless, and to help me understand who I was from a really un-cliché-ed point of view. I think we succeeded in that.”
When asked why she chose this role, she said she identified with what the show is about:
“These characters are regular people who have a couple of very important gifts, but they’re not superheroes, and they don’t jump around in boots and capes. It’s not apocalyptic. It’s all about the city, and as a New Yorker, I cared about that instantly. Making that block that much better for the people who live on it, that really spoke to me.”
Later, she described Alexandra as a passionate person:
“There are things she cares about deeply, but she probably doesn’t care about the same things the Defenders care about, so that puts them on a collision course. In many ways, she’s an admirable person”.
And admirable person who’s more like an adversary, but… is that all this character is?
In that same interview, showrunner Marco Ramirez told the outlet that Weaver’s character is someone who, as head of an ancient organization, has faced “worthy” opponents before, but none like The Defenders:
“In her career, she’s come up against a lot of different people — armies, mercenaries, devoted religious fanatics and all kinds of different groups — who have tried to take her down, but she’s never met four people who are seemingly just interested in taking care of this one little part of New York. I think she’s actually really charmed by it, and weirdly, because they’re unlike anybody she’s ever faced off against before, it’s intimidating to her.”
Ramirez said she’s a survivor, and unlike others, she’s not interested in destroying or ruling the world, she wants to protect it:
“Above all else, she cares about living. She’s about self-preservation, and self-preservation at all costs… She has the long game in mind, and she isn’t thinking about this chess game, she’s thinking about six chess games in the future. As such, I think she’s seen a lot of beauty in humanity and in the world, but there are certain things that to her are expendable, and that’s a really dangerous worldview.”
As you can see, although we now know more of Alexandra than we did yesterday, there is not much details of what her motivations are. But it seems like is someone you do not want to mess with.
What do you think about this news? Are you excited for Sigourney Weaver’s character?
Let us know in the comments below!
The Defenders premieres August 18 on Netflix.
Source: Entertainment Weekly
