'Twilight' scribe Melissa Rosenberg: 'In very good company' with gals at ABC

Screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg has her origins in television, as a writer for "Dexter" before she was hired to adapt the "Twlight Saga."

The vampire phenomenon having finally come to an end in 2012, Rosenberg returns to the small screen with an eight-episode offering for ABC: "Red Widow."

Radha Mitchell (Woody Allen's "Melinda and Melinda") stars as a housewife forced to take over her husband's life of crime to protect her family.

Sound like dark matter? Not these days at ABC. The network is home to Emily Thorne, the single-minded warrior of "Revenge." Also to Olivia Pope, the crafty crisis manager who rigs elections and fends off terrorism on a good day in "Scandal."

[Related: Catch up on 'Scandal' with our latest recap]

Mitchell's Marta Walraven is equally murky, and ass-kicking to boot.

"It’s a network and an audience that really digs into female characters, that can relate," Rosenberg said Tuesday at a Los Angeles reception for the show.

"I think this character is so much more akin to what’s happening on cable, because there’s so much moral ambiguity, but … I’m in very good company at ABC.”

She's also not interested in simply flirting with the dark side. Marta will come to embrace her other life more than she knows.

"It's not a typical mob-wife character … [Mitchell's character] actually has some talent for dirty work, much to her dismay. She was raised around this life; it's sort of seeped into her DNA. She’s probably better at this than any of the crime bosses she’s around."

"Red Widow" premieres Sunday, 3/3 at 9 PM on ABC.