Krysten Ritter Talks Directing The Girl in the Woods, Upcoming Projects, & More!

By Paul Dailly at

Krysten Ritter has had roles in some of the best TV shows out there, including Jessica Jones, Breaking Bad, and Don't Trust the B in Apartment 23.

The star directed the first four episodes of Peacock's upcoming series, The Girl in the Woods, and TV Fanatic got the chance to talk to her about it.

Check out the interview below.

What attracted you to The Girl in the Woods?

I absolutely loved this project from the second it showed up in my inbox. I loved the opportunity for all of the world-building and the cult and the coming of age stories with these characters in a small town similar to where I'm from.

And then the monsters and these amazing characters that are so rich and so funny. So really, there were so many things about this that I just loved.

And as a director, there's kind of like no better project to throw yourself into. 

I know your directorial debut was on Jessica Jones. Are you able to speak a bit about the differences between directing the two series?

I think that everything that I've learned along the way has served me in directing Girl in the Woods. When I got to direct Jessica Jones and being on that show for so many years and fully immersed in the production train, it was like a real boot camp.

It has served me with Girl in the Woods, the stunts, making sure that that the audience falls in love with the characters right away, so that you are on board with any kind of questionable choices they make later.

All of those things that I really learned doing Jessica Jones came into play here with Girl in the Woods.

What was it like showing up on the set not to act but to direct?

It was awesome. It was so fun. This is so silly, but you get to come to set a little later because you don't have to arrive three hours earlier for hair and makeup.

But it was so fun, and I wanted to bring an energy that made people feel happy to be there and empower.

To make big creative choices, as a director in television, you hire department heads who are great at what they do, and then you empower them to do their job.

I'll be open to a great idea, be open to the collaboration. It's a team sport, and I just absolutely loved it.

It's great to show up to set. And I got to say, the people I worked with were just some of the best in the business.

Kylie Lya Page said you kept her at ease on the set by saying “So fierce” instead of cut. Can you speak a bit about what you like the most about directing?

Oftentimes I would. It's funny! I would always say "nailed it" instead of cut, and for this one, I would either go like "Woo," or I would yell to them, "So fierce!" because they were badasses.

Kylie and Stefanie Scott had to do a lot of training and go for it. That's the kind of thing like if you don't commit, you look silly, and they threw themselves in, and they had so much fun doing it.

So I wanted to empower them. I wanted to make them feel good. I wanted them not to be afraid to really go there. So yeah, I love those girls!

Without spoiling too much, could you speak a bit about your favorite scene to direct?

A couple of scenes came together a little differently than we had originally planned because of time or changes on set.

There was one scene in the pilot where everybody kind of meets in Tasha's bedroom, but we ended up having to completely change how we shot because we were running out of time.

So we ended up shooting all handheld, and it was kind of like shooting a sitcom, how it was all staged.

We threw up some cameras, and it ended up creating a really fun energy in the show that I was really happy with.

My other favorite would be one of the locations that we filmed at was Camp Namanu in Sandy, Oregon, which is the most beautiful place.

And if anybody has an opportunity to send their kids there, it is like nature Disneyland. So I absolutely loved it for production reasons because it made things look so beautiful, but for like myself and like the nature and the beauty, I just loved being there so much.

So I guess those are my two things!

Which genre would you like to direct next?

It's not even about a genre for me. Next time I'll be doing a dramatic thriller title thing, but I also love to find humor in things.

I have a comedy background, and I love to find jokes and make people laugh. And I love that environment that it creates on set. So for me, it's kind of always like character-driven material driven and doing something new every time I show up to work.

And are you working on any other projects at the moment?

I'm shooting an HBO Max show called Love and Death. I'm in Austin, Texas, with an amazing cast. Elizabeth Olsen, Jesse Plemons, Lily Rabe, Patrick Fugit, Elizabeth Marvel, Tom Pelphrey, the list goes on. It's a truly fantastic cast.

Lesli Linka Glatter is directing, David E. Kelly's writing, Nicole Kidman producing. I mean, it's just like a real good one.

So I'm doing that now, in Texas.

The Girl in the Woods premieres its entire first season on Peacock Thursday, October 21.

Check out the trailer below.