David Farnor | On 18, Mar 2016

Update: Friday 18th March

Marvel has officially confirmed that Finn Jones will play Iron Fist in the upcoming Netflix series.

“Danny Rand is a very complicated character. He’s a billionaire New York Buddhist monk martial arts superhero who’s still trying to figure out what exactly that all means,” said Executive Producer and showrunner, Scott Buck, in an official statement. “Finn is able to play all these levels in such an honest, revelatory way that as soon as I saw him I knew he was our Danny.”

“Finn wonderfully blends confidence with vulnerability, making him the perfect choice as he struggles to find his place in the world,” added Executive Producer/Head of Marvel TV, Jeph Loeb. “Now that we’ve found our Danny Rand, we’ve completed our principal cast for the upcoming Defenders on Netflix and we are thrilled to continue to show audiences unexplored corners of the Marvel Universe.

Original story below:

Finn Jones has reportedly been cast as Iron First in Marvel’s next superhero series.

The show, which marks the latest in an ongoing team-up between the comics giant and Netflix, will star Jones as the lead martial arts master.

The actor, who is best know for his role as Ser Loras Tyrell in HBO’s Game of Thrones, has not been officially unveiled by Marvel yet, but his casting was confirmed by Entertainment Weekly this evening.

Already, though, there has been some controversy around the decision, with some fans calling for Marvel to cast an Asian actor as Iron Fist.

Indeed, the only other martial arts TV show on screens at the moment is AMC’s Into the Badlands and, in an interview with us last year, star Daniel Wu pointed out that apart from him, only one other Chinese-American actor is currently leading a TV show in the US (Hudson Yang in Fresh Off the Boat). Diversity, both on the big and small screen, has never been a more high-profile issue.

Iron Fist, though, has traditionally been a Caucasian character in the original books. Also known as Daniel Rand, the New Yorker travels with his family to the mystical city of K’un-L’un when he is a young boy, leading to him being adopted by the city’s ruler and learning martial arts.

Returning to New York City after being missing for years, Daniel Rand decides to fight against the criminal element corrupting New York City with his incredible kung-fu mastery and ability to summon the awesome power of the fiery Iron Fist.

Iron Fist follows in the footsteps of Daredevil, Jessica Jones and Luke Cage in what will eventually become the crossover event series, The Defenders.

The only other thing we currently know about the Netflix and Marvel show is that Dexter’s Scott Buck is currently tied to the project as showrunner.

The news arrives hot on the heels of the latest trailer for Daredevil’s second season, which premieres on Netflix on Friday 18th March. You can watch that trailer here.

Scan of Marvel comics cover courtesy of The Verge

Add to Watchlist