We’re less than 30 days away from the premiere of Iron Fist. The final Defender will catapult us towards The Defenders, which has yet to announce a release date. For Iron Fist, Finn Jones is obviously the main character. Danny Rand is someone who lost both parents in a terrible plane crash, is taken to K’un-Lun, and then returns 15 years later to New York City. He’s a wide-eyed optimist, which is fairly different from our previous three Marvel Netflix shows.
The other main character is Colleen Wing. Played by Jessica Henwick – she may not have superpowers, but this girl is super badass. As someone who most likely doesn’t want to be looked up to (according to Henwick), I’m going to say Wing will be a character young women can view as a hero. She kicks ass in cage fights and won’t take no for an answer when it comes to helping Danny.
Henwick and Jones have both worked together for six years on the hit HBO show Game of Thrones. It’s fair to say the two have a good relationship with each other and from the trailers we’ve seen, they work well with each other. Both sat down with Collider to discuss several topics about Iron Fist. One was the issue of racial stereotypes.
Now, Iron Fist has been the center point of a lot of speculation and controversy. There are still arguments over the casting of Danny Rand to this day. Henwick was asked about her character and the divide between Asian culture and stereotypes. Colleen Wing herself has been back and forth from New York to Japan and doesn’t feel a connection with any culture, but for Henwick – playing an Asian character is something she’s tried to stay away from.
For me, when they approached me about Colleen, I was a little bit like, huh, do I want to play an Asian woman who does martial arts who’s a love interest? Do I want to do those three things? Because I’ve always shied away from it. In fact, I’ve shied away from playing Asian characters, if you look back I’m playing characters that have no relevance to my ethnicity.
Henwick went on to add that she has reached the point in her life where she wants to begin telling Asian stories. Which, is why she accepted the role as Colleen Wing. She also explained in an interview for Gadgets 360 that Wing will adapt as to who she is depending on those she’s around. As she said, Wing is a “chameleon”.
Both Jones and Henwick have trained hard for their roles for Iron Fist. Jones stated he trained in the dojo before they all started filming and Henwick has had an array of training ranging from Krav Maga, kickboxing, and learning how to use a katana.
As for how it was working with each other, Jones joked “I hated every second of it!”
Iron Fist premieres March 17th on Netflix.
Source: Collider and Gadgets 360
