There was a point in time where it looked like Marvel’s Iron Fist series on Netflix was going nowhere. There was even some speculation that the streaming site might actually skip the series altogether and go in for a movie instead. But when it was confirmed that Dexter alum Scott Buck was hired as showrunner, hopes for a series remained alive. The only thing was that there was no actor chosen to play the title character. Charlie Cox, Krysten Ritter, and Mike Colter were already locked in for Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and Luke Cage respectively. Now the wait to see who will play Danny Rand aka Iron Fist is over.

A new report says Game Of Thrones star Finn Jones has been cast as title role. More on the story below.

EW confirmed the news earlier today.

In the comics Danny Rand was born in New York City to a wealthy family, but left an orphan after Harold Meachum, his father’s business partner betrays the Rand family during a journey to visit the mystical city of K’un-L’un. Alone, Danny is taken in by the city’s ruler, and after expressing his desire for vengeance goes to train under the tutelage of Lei Kung, the Thunderer, who teaches him the martial arts. After training for a number of years, and overcoming his greatest test, Danny returns to New York City with the power of the Iron Fist to get his revenge on Harold. However, as soon as he finds him, he discovers that Harold is unable to walk and that he has accepted his fate for his sins. Unable to finish him off, Danny walks away. Soon, Danny takes up the life of crime fighting, and would partner up with Luke Cage to become Heroes For Hire.

That lines up more or less with the official plot synopsis of the series:

Returning to New York City after being missing for years, Daniel Rand fights 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.

We’ve seen a small hint of his character in season one of Daredevil, where we saw the symbol of the Steel Serpent, an Iron Fist villain, on the packets of Madame Gao’s drugs. Towards the end of the show, when Kingpin’s criminal empire was collapsing, Gao escaped before she could be arrested and told Kingpin that she would retreat to her home, which is “a considerable distance” farther than China.

Now I’ve been seeing a few gripes about the fact that Danny Rand isn’t being played by an Asian America. To which I can understand. Yes, the character in the comics is Caucasian, but a role like this one would obviously help increase the opportunities to see Asian Americans in heroic roles. So it is a bit of a disappointment that Marvel and Netflix didn’t cast an Asian American, especially since there is a big push to have more diversity in Hollywood.

That being said, Netflix and Marvel didn’t offer any comments about the casting. As for Finn Jones, he is best known for his role as Ser Loras Tyrell in Game of Thrones. It should be interesting to see how they will introduce the character. With Luke Cage being introduced in Jessica Jones, one has to wonder if Netflix will do the same with Iron Fist by tying in a story arc or two from the Heroes for Hire comics. Of course, the biggest thing will be if Jones can have chemistry with his fellow Defenders for that ensemble series. But with all the Defenders cast, we can probably look forward to some news on when that series will start shooting.

No word yet on when the series will start shooting or when all 13 episodes of Iron Fist will be released, but we will keep you posted should any developments come up.

[Source: EW]