‘Iron Fist:’ Finn Jones on Season 2 and the Future of the Series

Iron Fist is back on Netflix, and star Finn Jones promises that the champion of K’un-Lun is going to look a lot more like the hero comic book fans have loved for nearly a quarter of a century — figuratively and literally.

The first season of Marvel’s Iron Fist proved polarizing, to be sure: while it was one of the most popular of the Marvel/Netflix series in terms of viewership, it also took its share of critical hits. But like the comic book hero, both the actor and his screen alter ego have proven both increasingly resilient and winning in follow-up appearances in “The Defenders” and “Luke Cage.”

With a new showrunner on board behind the scenes and the on-screen promise that Danny Rand will be embracing even more of his comic book mythology, including a certain yellow mask, Jones tells ComicBook.com that Season Two will offer major allure to both die-hard fans of the debut season and those still waiting to be blown away.

ComicBook.com: What was the unique challenge that you saw in what you needed to do this season to move Danny Rand forward?

Finn Jones: My intention, always, from the beginning of being cast as Iron Fist, was bringing 110 percent energy, enthusiasm, and passion into the character and the series. I’ve always done that. This year, we had more of a lead-up before we started shooting, so I could really apply myself to the martial arts practice. Also, they had hired Raven Metzner, who is an incredibly talented showrunner and writer, but also has an endless amount of passion for not only comic books, but for Iron Fist and the mythology of Iron Fist specifically.

Also, they hired Clayton Barber, who’s an incredibly skilled and passionate stunt coordinator. So, really, this year, it really felt like the stars had all aligned, and everyone came at the season with a really honest passion and work ethic to try and make this season the most interesting and best season we could. I guess I’m just very lucky that people were brought on-board that matched my enthusiasm. Once everyone had come together, it was hard work, but it was fun. We were all riffing off each other, and we were all passionate about the project, and we all wanted to make this show the most interesting and best “Iron Fist” series possible.

You get to balance the expected action scenes with Danny in his Iron Fist role with this fun, and maybe futile, attempt at domesticity with Colleen. Tell me about playing that side of his life, alongside Jessica Henwick.

For me, it was really important – and it started with “Luke Cage,” and it goes forward here too – that Danny brings levity and joy into the role. He has fun at times. At times, he will be very hardly pushed, but the great thing about the character is, even in times of adversity, he’s able to see the light. He’s able to see the best of the situation. For me, that’s one of the most redeeming qualities about the character. I’m really grateful that this season, Raven also saw that about the character and we worked towards bringing that out in Danny more.

It’s also really fun working with Jess, who is amazing as Colleen, and seeing that relationship on a much more authentic level. They’ve moved in together. The dojo is now home. Everything is really deeply ingrained in the character, and as an audience, we’re seeing them on a much more authentic level, which I think is really important as well.

Obviously, with domesticating your life and moving in with a girlfriend and all this kind of stuff, things tend to go awry a little bit, and that’s the fun of it. It’s making the character relatable. Everyone has been there. Everyone has been twentysomething, and has got a new job, and has got a girlfriend they’ve just moved in with, but is also spending too many nights out on the town, and is not really looking after their health or their relationship. That’s really where Danny’s at at the beginning of the season.

Given that Raven was excited to lean into the comic book, the mythology from the comics, tell me what you got excited about in terms of building that out and adding more elements from his K’un-Lun backstory.

Yeah, I love all the mystical elements of the comic books. To be honest, the more mystical and the more out there we can make the series, in my heart, that’s where I have the most fun, and I find it the most enjoyable. That’s the same for Raven as well. We both really love the Iron Fist mythology, and what you see in this season is there’s certainly a lot more of it. Hopefully, if we have more seasons to come, we’ll just keep digging deeper and deeper into that mythology.

People went nuts when they got the glimpse of the classic comic book mask in the trailer. What was that experience like, to be able to make it come alive?

The idea behind that mask that we see in the flashback to K’un-Lun is it’s a ceremonial mask. Right? In K’un-Lun, when you fight, when you’re in the arena, you’re fighting with your brothers, right? You loved your brothers. You grow up with your brothers. It’s very difficult for us as warriors to fight your opponent, because there’s emotion there. There’s an attachment. The mythology of the ceremonial Iron Fist mask is that when you wear it, you become anonymous. That’s why that mask is brought in, in that ceremony. It allows the fighters in the arena to become anonymous to their opponents.

As we see, that mask does then find its way to the streets of New York, and who knows, it may be used moving further, or it may be adapted into something a little bit more New York-ian. It’s wonderful to have that iconic comic book mask in the series, because it truly is Iron Fist. It is iconic, and it’s great that we’re finally getting to see that on-screen.

How was the mask on a practical level? Was it easy to fight in or was it a real challenge?

No, it was actually pretty good, to be honest. We had the masks in the rehearsal period, so we practiced with the masks. The way that they were designed, they were designed to fit well and to be good with fighting. There was no problems with the mask when it came to fighting. It was actually pretty smooth.

When it comes to what you’ve needed to learn for the physicality of the role, all the different techniques, what has that meant to you, to Finn? To absorb all that and to have that knowledge, develop those skulls and get strong in that way?

It’s really interesting to see what discipline does to my life [Laughs]. That’s what you really need when you’re doing a show like this and you’re playing a role like this. You need to really have discipline. You have to have discipline for eating the right foods. You have to have discipline to wake up and go slave away at the gym or go and do martial arts. You have to have discipline to be optimistic about everything, and to go forward and be passionate and to create.

Really, the one thing I really learned from all of this is how to apply discipline into my life. What I found is that I really love having discipline! I used to think that discipline was a bore, you know? Now I see it as a real strength, and there’s a real height you can have when you’re disciplined. You feel like you’re on top of the world and you can achieve anything. That’s probably one of the greatest things that I’ve taken from all of the training that this show has brought into my life.

In the most recent season of “Luke Cage,” we got to see, and we see it again here, that the connections between those two characters and their supporting casts are getting tighter and tighter. What do you love about that special relationship that Iron Fist and Luke Cage have? What’s been fun about building that relationship with Mike Colter over all this time?

Well, me and Mike are very lucky, because just from the get-go, we had a very effortless friendship. I don’t know what it is – we just get each other. We’re very at ease around each other, and we’re very casual, and we have fun with it. It was a great connection straight away.

With the characters, I think why they work so well is that when they’re together, they’re at ease. You know? They’re not trying to impress anyone. They have the support of each other, so they feel like they can handle themselves, the situation. It allows them both to loosen up a little bit and have fun in each other’s company whilst also being super heroes and taking on these pretty formidable criminals or villains.

Also, what’s nice is that they come from very different sides, and they have very different backgrounds, and I think in spite of that, they are able to work with each other, have a friendship, and also learn from each other. I think that also adds to a really dynamic combination of the two.

Would you love to see a season or two devoted to those two characters as co-leads – a “Heroes for Hire” season?

I would love it. I love all of it. I’d love for “Iron Fist” to continue. I’d love for “Luke Cage” to continue. I’d also love to do the “Heroes for Hire” as well. It would be a lot of work, but I think there is the fans – the fans want it. I also would love to see the “Daughters of the Dragon” as well.

What I’d really like to see is a television series which combines both “Heroes for Hire” and “Daughters of the Dragon,” because I think all of us work so well together, and it all makes sense. The fans love it, and I just think there’s so many places we could take it. There’s so much fun to be had with it, but there’s also a lot of interesting social storylines to be told as well. I think something like that has a lot of legs to hopefully, one day down the line, we’ll see that come to fruition. That’s all on Netflix. You guys, if you want it, you just have to keep on telling Netflix [Laughs]!

Tell me about working with Alice Eve, who gets to have a ton of fun her role. I imagine it was great to work with all the different facets she was throwing at you.

Yeah, Alice is a wonderful actress. She’s English as well, so it’s always great to have another fellow Brit on the scene. Alice is very intelligent. She’s very funny, very down to earth, and applies herself. She’s very, very talented. It was really great to work with her. Not only to become a really good friend of hers, but also to see these both sides of her. Both as Mary Walker, and also get to fight with her as well.

It was really great to have Alice on, because she is such a great team player, and she’s a great talent as well, and she’s creepy, and she’s weird as the character. It’s exactly what we needed. I think it’s exactly what the show needed. We needed that mystery, we needed that danger, and we needed that allure that Alice brings to the show and the character.

The Danny-Davos relationship is also so crucial to this season. For you, what were you looking forward to playing, with what they put on the page for those two characters this time around?

Sacha [Dhawan], by the way, is one of the most committed actors, and he is incredibly talented. His level of commitment to this role this season has to be spoken about, because he really put himself through the ringer. We all did, but Sacha especially, really applied himself in a very disciplined and enthusiastic way this season. I really loved working with him, both physically and emotionally.

Me and Sacha used to speak a lot about this: how do we want this relationship to feel? The first thing we didn’t want it to feel like is we didn’t it to feel arch. You know? We didn’t want it to feel like, “Ah! Good good guy versus bad guy!” You know? We wanted there to be a real depth of emotion and history between the characters. I think what allowed us to do that, is that, the two characters, what is at the core of their relationship, is love. They really love each other. They really care about each other. They grew up together. They’re bothers. They trained together. When they were young and lonely and scared, they looked after each other, they protected each other.

So, you’ve got all this built-in love for each other, and then, because of the course of events, which are complicated, the reason why I won the Fist is complicated, as we see in K’un-Lun. Because of that, a resentment starts to grow in Davos, and that grows and grows and grows, and he loses control of his resentment. He becomes blinded, he becomes impassioned by this belief. It’s to Danny to try and remind Davos of who he is. To try and save him from himself. Me, Raven and Sacha, we spoke a lot, at length, about how do we make this relationship feel authentic and nuanced and complex? And not just be hero versus villain.

People were very passionate, often in dramatically different directions, in their responses to Season One. Finn, make your pitch: for the people who absolutely loved Season One, tell them why this season’s going to make them super-happy. And for the people who were a little bit more critical, tell them why this one is going to make them happier.

All I can tell you is everyone on this season of the show has the utmost respect and passion for the story and the characters that we are creating and the story we are telling. We have all put so much time and energy and love into this show, and I can only hope that people watch this show and they just appreciate what we have tried to do.

Marvel and Netflix listened to the concerns of Season One, and we have done everything in our hearts to improve and make this a better season. From my experience with the show, it definitely feels like it has improved and it has evolved. I’m very proud of it. I’m very proud of all the work that everyone has put into it. I can only hope that we continue to tell really awesome Iron Fist stories in the future.