Earlier this year, fans of giant entertainment franchises whooped with glee when Game of Thrones actor Finn Jones was given the title role in Marvel's fourth-wave Netflix drama Iron Fist, and we all wondered how the actor would handle both shows' schedules. Spoiler alert: it didn't end up mattering, given how things played out. But it turns out the timing behind the two gigs couldn't have been more fortunate, as Jones was given the invite to audition for Iron Fist on his very last day of filming for Game of Thrones. My luck is never that amazing.
Finn Jones filmed a scene (perhaps THAT one) with Eugene Simon, who played Lancel Lannister, and that was his final bit of acting for Game of Thrones (that we know of). He then bid his farewells to all involved, including show creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, and he headed out to the airport for a flight back home to London. According to Entertainment Tonight, it was while he was biding his time pre-flight that the email came, inviting him to audition to Iron Fist. Here's what Jones thought about the coincidental nature of things.
In hindsight, it seems crazy how lined up it was. That was my last day -- it was a really nice last day.
That's hindsight. At the time, though, Jones wasn't fully aware of the opportunity he was being given. The superhero series was going by the code name Kick, so the badassery of things was lost on him. In fact, he thought it was about football (not the American kind) and wasn't all that pumped about it, since he's apparently not a big fan of the sport. But after he got a little more info and realized this was a Marvel project, his would-be frown turned upside-down, especially since Danny Rand's meditative nature meshes so well with Finn Jones' own practices.
It would have been cool to see the lightbulb pop on over Finn Jones' head when the connection was made. Here's how he put it.
The more I read it, the more it deeply sunk into me. At that moment, I was like, 'Fuck, this is the one.'
The one, indeed. Finn Jones was one one of the most popular series in the country/world for all six seasons that Game of Thrones has aired so far. But while Ser Loras Tyrell was important, he wasn't on the narrative front line most of the time, and it's a whole different ball game when you're playing the character important enough to get the title. I can't wait to hear who called him in for an audition on his last day of filming Season 1 of Iron Fist.
Keep your own fists cooled down, as we won't be able to watch Iron Fist showing up on Netflix for Season 1 until Friday, March 17, 2017. To see what else is coming to the streaming service, head to our Netflix premiere schedule, and then open up your options with our midseason TV schedule for everything else coming to the small screen.
