‘Iron Fist’ star admits there was ‘turbulence’ behind the scenes before the show got canned

In unsurprising news, Iron Fist star Finn Jones recalled “turbulence” while portraying the title character.

“Turbulent” is an apt descriptor of the show behind the scenes and on the screens. Considered one of the worst MCU projects of all time, Iron Fist, which is based on the eponymous Marvel Comics martial artist, premiered on Netflix in 2017 to negative reviews. Brad Newsome of the Sydney Morning Herald called it “a relatively drab patch in that endless Marvel tapestry,” while NPR’s Eric Deggans bemoaned what he saw as tired racial stereotypes, presumably around the “Orientalist” aspect of the martial arts theme: “As a fan of superheroes who knows how racial issues affect media, I’ve realized I can’t enjoy these new stories until they fully step away from old stereotypes.” However, viewership was reportedly good—at least enough to warrant another season.

Iron Fist Season 2 debuted on Netflix in 2018 to much better reviews, but they still weren’t good enough to earn a fresh tomato on RT. Moreover, social media impressions plummeted from the first season, which attracted nearly 120,000 Twitter and Instagram posts compared to around 20,000 for Season 2. A mere month after the second season’s release, Netflix released Iron Fist from its programming.

Jones thought that the show was just finding its footing (fisting?) when it got axed. The now-34-year-old told Inverse that, despite the turbulence he experienced during production, things were looking upward:

“Throughout that time playing the role, there was a lot of turbulence. Towards the end, we got the character to a really good point where we could take off and grow the character in a really interesting, dynamic way. It was a shame the show got cut off right before that.”

He hopes his character will join forces with Colleen Wing, Luke Cage, and Shang-Chi for a Heroes for Hire TV series. If that doesn’t happen, fans of the source comics will have to settle for a possibly-canceled-too-soon Iron Fist currently streaming on Disney Plus.