The Marvel Netflix universe is widely regarded as some of the best work Marvel Studios has ever produced, especially for television, but there was one thorn in its side that the general audience just couldn’t get behind. Iron Fist, led by Finn Jones in the titular role, has mostly been regarded as a letdown by Marvel fans, but Jones has shared season three was going to change everyone’s minds.
In an interview with ComicBook, Jones gushed about his character Danny Rand, and how dedicated he was to him, prior to the show’s cancellation. For that reason, and because he and showrunner Raven Metzner felt like they did not get to show everything they had in store for the world of K’un-Lun, the abrupt ending of Iron Fist left a particularly bitter taste.
“I love Danny Rand. I love that character. I love everything about him. I think he’s such a jewel,” Jones said, adding that he and Metzner would “vibe out and geek out together” over the character’s future.
Although Iron First wasn’t met with great reviews after its first season, for Jones, season two was all about “course correction,” and setting up the real climax of the show in season three. “It was like, how do we just change the course and the conversation around this show, and just bring it up to a place that we can feel proud of,” he explained. “And then we can take the show in the direction that we really want to take it in.”
That direction never got to take shape, but Jones’s insight is shedding some light on what could have been. The season two finale set up the storyline of Orson Randall, who in the comics was the Iron First before Danny. “Raven especially wanted to see Danny and Ward off in distant lands fighting crime and having the guns and the Orson Randall and that kind of persona,” Jones said.
As for Colleen, played by Jessica Henwick, she would be in charge of protecting New York as a new version of the Iron Fist, eventually finding her way back to Danny, so the two could “become whole” again, Jones shared.
For Jones, “There was a lot of interesting ways that we could have moved forward with that show,” but sadly, we will never know if that was true. However, with the addition of some of the faces from the Marvel Netflix universe into the MCU, like Daredevil’s Charlie Cox and Vincent D’onofrio, maybe there is a future where Danny Rand will get to shine his fist once again.