Iron Fist Cancelled At Netflix
by Erik Amaya
Despite finding its ground creatively and setting up a number of interesting ideas for a third season, Iron Fist has been cancelled according to Deadline.
The second season debuted in early September to a fairly better reception. Its Rotten Tomatoes score was the biggest season-to-season gain in the site’s history of aggregating reviews. But the actual score, 53%, still represents the lowest marks for Marvel’s partnership with the streaming service. The anticipated third season of Daredevil debuts next week with a second season of The Punisher and third seasons of Jessica Jones and Luke Cage to follow.
Iron Fist was always the runt of the litter. Star Finn Jones was cast very late in the development process and never had the chance to properly train before the first season. Executive producer Scott Buck also seemed uninterested in the work as the first season meandered around Manhattan and presented a Danny Rand (Jones) who at times was a wise sage or a wide-eyed innocent. Fight scenes left lots to be desired. Prior to Finn’s casting, rumors surfaced that the show might be reformatted into a TV movie ahead of The Defenders, but this was swiftly dismissed. The final product left fans wishing Danny had just been a supporting character on Luke Cage.
The second season, supervised by Raven Metzner, fixed a lot of the show’s problems, but it clearly wasn’t enough to keep the show afloat.
“Everyone at Marvel Television and Netflix is proud of the series and grateful for all of the hard work from our incredible cast, crew and showrunners,” Marvel and Netflix said in a joint statment “We’re thankful to the fans who have watched these two seasons, and for the partnership we’ve shared on this series. While the series on Netflix has ended, the immortal Iron Fist will live on.”
Deadline suggests the series may find a new life on Disney’s streaming platform. But considering the actual strengths of the series, a Heroes for Hire miniseries is probably the best home for Danny and Colleen (Jessica Henwick). Sadly, those of us who enjoyed Ward’s (Tom Pelphrey) peculiar journey, the ride is apparently over.
