‘ Thrones’ star to re- emerge as title hero of ‘Iron Fist’
Finn Jones is on the brink of bigness.
The British actor spent six seasons (2011-16) playing Loras Tyrell on “Game of Thrones” before his character (and others) died in a wildfire explosion.
“I was young when I started, and I went through my 20s on the show, and I grew up a lot during that time,” he said. “I think the real thing I took from that is the people I met and the friends I made.”
The role undoubtedly led to his hiring for the 13-episode “Iron Fist,” the latest Marvel-based superhero saga, set for release Friday on the streaming service Netflix.
Jones plays the title character in the series, which follows on the heels of “Jessica Jones,” “Daredevil” and “Luke Cage.”
“Iron Fist,” in turn, will be followed still this year by “The Defenders,” an eightepisode series featuring the heroes from all four shows.
Before he took on his latest role, Finn said, he knew little about the character Iron Fist, created for Marvel Comics in 1974 by Roy Thomas and Gil Kane.
“Comic-book culture for kids in the U.K. doesn’t really translate as much as it does” in America, he said.
He knew about “Daredevil” and “Jessica Jones,” he said, because he was familiar with the Netflix shows,
“What I liked about it is that they were taking these superhero characters but actually making them people,” Jones said. “They had issues, there was complexity to the characters that grounded them in the real world, and they weren’t just these fantastical, perfect superheroes.”
The show casts the 28-year-old Jones as Danny Rand, a billionaire’s son long
assumed dead in the same Asian plane crash that killed his parents. He survived, though, and was raised by monks in a mystical city called K’un-Lun, where the monks trained Danny in the martial arts and helped him master the power of the Iron Fist.
As the series begins, Danny returns to New York, where he grew up, to reclaim his name and his family’s company. Few people are pleased to see him, however — especially childhood frenemy Ward Meacham (Tom Pelphrey) and his sister, Joy (Jessica Stroup), who are now running the Rand company, and their ruthless father, Harold Meacham (David Wenham).
Danny’s one ally, early on, is Colleen Wing (Jessica Henwick), who runs a local martial-arts dojo.
“Danny’s a really complex character,” Jones said. “He’s always stuck in the middle of opposing forces. On one side, he’s a very vulnerable, lost spirit who’s suffered from incredible trauma when he was younger... . On the other side, he’s this highly skilled, trained warrior who has a responsibility to
“The Real” — actor Ernie Hudson (“APB”) (N)
“Steve Harvey” — actress Marsai Martin (“Black-ish”)” (N)
“The Ellen DeGeneres Show” — actress Felicity Huffman (“American Crime”) (N)
the Iron Fist and feels a lot of weight on his shoulders.”
The show addresses themes of identity and responsibility for a young adult.
“He’s 25, going through life and trying to grasp what to do, now that he’s left childhood and is about to become a man,” Jones said. “And, now that he’s back in New York, he’s trying to get his bearings on what’s been happening since he’s been gone.”
The “Iron Fist” episodes wrapped months ago, and Jones is now in Manhattan shooting “The Defenders” — a speedy turnaround that he hadn’t anticipated.
“It wasn’t until I got the (“Iron Fist”) role that I found out I’d be doing ‘The Defenders’ immediately after,” he said.
“So I went into this like Danny did — very naive, very optimistic. It’s been a test of endurance, but there’s something fun and raw about going at it with this amount of energy and sustainability.”