When it comes to Marvel’s Jessica Jones, premiering Friday (November 20) on Netflix, Carrie-Anne Moss is obviously excited.

“It’s great to be on a show with a female lead and a female showrunner and a lot of female supporting characters,” says Moss, of the glass ceiling-breaking and Bechdel Test-busting detective series. “I think we’re in a really good, strong place where women are being represented in television right now.”

The series, which revolves around former super hero Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter)—now retired from the super hero business, suffering from PTSD, and running a downscale detective agency in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen—is a noir-ish look into dysfunction and resilience. There are superheroes in it, to be sure, but it’s not an “up-up-and-away”-type punch-up by any stretch of the imagination—the world of Jessica Jones, clearly, exists in the darker corners of the comic world.

As a Marvel entity, Jessica Jones also marks an important milestone: Moss’s character, attorney Jeri Hogarth, is the first openly gay character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s something that’s been lobbied for by members of the LGBT community for some time.

When asked if it felt like a trailblazing role as she was filming it, Moss says: “Totally, yes. And it’s always exciting to be the first of something.” But she also mentions that during production, her character’s sexuality was handled very matter-of-factly—something that’s obvious when Hogarth’s domestic life eventually gets woven into the show. 

It may be a first for Marvel, she notes, “but in the world of film and television it’s a non-issue now.”

Moss is also enthusiastic about being part of TV’s grand renaissance, with exceptional cable and on-demand shows creating a new Golden Age in broadcast drama.

“It’s a very creative time in television, and it’s great to see it evolving,” Moss says. “Who could have imagined that a platform like—I’ll use Netflix as a example—that it could be so good? When I did Memento, independent film was where all the really good stuff was. Now with so many great shows on Netflix and all these independent stations, cable is what independent films used to be.”

When talking with the locally raised Moss, one can’t help but ask her about the place where her acting career began, Vancouver’s own Magee Secondary School. A double-threat, Moss excelled at both drama and choir and laid the foundation for her life’s work at the West Side school.

“One of the things that impacted me the most was in the 12th grade,” Moss recalls, “I just assumed I would get the lead in the musical. Well, I didn’t get it, I got the second lead, and I was devastated… my mom said something like ‘Often the supporting character is better’. So I wound up picking myself up and doing the part and it turned out to be so much fun, and dealing with that prepared me for a lifetime of rejection.”

After a hearty laugh, Moss pauses, then continues, telling of some sage advice from a fellow Magee alumna.

“You know, Margot Kidder spoke at my graduation, she told all of us, ‘Whatever your parents want you to do, screw it and do what you want to do!’” Moss laughs again, remembering the shocking sense of liberation Kidder bestowed. “Oh my God, nobody ever said that to us before!”

Obviously, Kidder’s words made an impact. From Magee through the Matrix trilogy to television’s grand renaissance, Moss has done what she’s wanted to do, and made a long career of playing strong women.

So when it comes to Jessica Jones and its sisters-are-doing-it-for-themselves ethic, it seems like nothing less than a perfect fit.

“It’s a pretty great time to be a woman,” she says enthusiastically.