Marvel's Luke Cage: Claire Temple Plays a 'Very Significant' Role

Rosario Dawson's character Claire Temple is an important part of the connective tissue that that ties Marvel's Netflix shows together. The nurse with a soft spot for superheroes is going to be playing a role on the upcoming series Marvel's Luke Cage, and star Mike Colter previewed what to expect from her character.

"I love Rosario, we get along great," he said. "I love working with her, so hopefully we'll see more of her and we'll see some interesting twists and turns with her character."

Full spoilers for Jessica Jones: Season 1 continue below.

After playing a key role in Daredevil: Season 1, Claire appeared in the final episode of Jessica Jones: Season 1 to nurse a severely injured Luke Cage back to health. While Colter wouldn't say how Claire ends up playing a role in Luke Cage: Season 1, he did offer some teases of how she fits into that universe.

"Luke Cage does take place up town. It's a different backdrop. How they get her uptown will be very unique, and you'll see it makes sense," he told IGN and a small group of reporters at 2016 winter Television Critics Association press tour. "It's seamless. We're in the same city. She knows of me, obviously, from a personal standpoint, but it'll be interesting to see because she will deal with me in a different way than she dealt with Matt Murdock. Matt Murdock's character's completely different from mine.

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"Because she plays a nurse that basically seems to be in the right place at the right time, and she's very good at helping out superheroes who are in need, and I think you will see some of that in Luke Cage," Colter continued. "Ultimately I think she's going to be a very good companion for Luke. I think she's someone that Luke needs in his life at this time."

Claire Temple was introduced in the Marvel comics as a love interest for Luke Cage before his relationship with Jessica Jones. Saying that "it will be interesting to see how" that relationship with Claire plays out on the show, Colter compared Luke's on-screen relationships with the two characters.

"With Jessica, it was one of those things that when you meet it's lustful," he said. "I think with Jessica, there's so much chemistry there that we still need to find out are we compatible, and that's the part that's going to be interesting. As far as Claire is concerned, we have to wait and see how that relationship evolves. Comparatively speaking, we know Jessica has killed my wife, and so we have to get through that."

Claire is a large enough part of Marvel's Luke Cage that her mother will be a part of the series. (Sonia Braga has been cast to play Soledad Temple.) When asked how much viewers will be seeing Claire in the new show, Colter said, "She's going to serve a very significant part of the Luke Cage story. Not overwhelmingly so, but you will definitely be satisfied with the amount of screen time you see. ... I can't speak to episode count, but you're definitely going to see her. She's definitely going to be someone that's going to have a large storyline and help out a lot."

Marvel's Head of Television Jeph Loeb that the reason Claire keeps popping up in the Netflix shows is a testament to Dawson as an actress.

"Rosario is such an extraordinarily gifted actress, sort of everything you throw at her she does an extraordinary job with," he said. "It wasn't just that Claire fit so well in those worlds, it's that Rosario fit so well in those worlds. We wanted to have an opportunity to be able to let the audience know that this person knows this person, and that means they know that person. I think if you play the game out, you can sort of see where it's going to be headed and how important that character's going to be."

Claire Temple will also be appearing in Daredevil: Season 2, which debuts on Netflix on March 18th. Marvel's Luke Cage premieres on Netflix later in 2016.

Terri Schwartz is Entertainment Editor at IGN. Follow her on Twitter at @Terri_Schwartz.

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