A new report from The Hollywood Report reveals that Marvel Television indeed met with Asian-American actors for the role of Danny Rand in their Iron Fist Netflix series. Although, they’ve apparently decided to go with a white actor instead which is very disappointing, considering the campaign Nerds of Color and ourselves have been pushing forward to give us our first Asian leading superhero in the MCU.
Sources have told The Hollywood Reporter that the clamor actually reached the ears of Marvel and Netflix, who met with Asian-American actors in consideration for the lead, but that the series, which finally revealed its showrunner on Monday (former Dexter executive producer Scott Buck), is now leaning toward keeping Iron Fist white. Marvel declined to comment on that detail.
They commended our friends over at Nerds of Color for their championing of the diverse casting choice, something we also shared in our call for Marvel to consider Asian-American actors for Danny Rand, along with supporting roles as well. A claim on their site did point to Marvel actually considering our hope for the role, before this trade report.
The site also interviewed Punisher: War Zone director Lexi Alexander, where she revealed a strong interest in being apart of the series, she had been voicing the call to hire an Asian-American for the part as well. Lexi has teased an interest in directing a couple of episodes, with the help of writer comic book writer Gail Simone (also very interested). Alexander has been making a resurgence lately directing episodes of Arrow and at the moment an episode of Supergirl, proving she still has the chops for action and superhero material. I’d hope Marvel and Scott Buck are smart enough to consider Lexi and Gail for a handful of action focused episodes.
We do expect some sort of announcement concerning casting soon as Dexter‘s Scott Buck has been hired to showrun the project for Marvel. Learning they’ve started meeting actors, they should make an announcement in the coming weeks.
This doesn’t mean they’ve made up their minds, but it does sound like they’re still weighing options and that includes yet another white lead in the MCU.
SOURCE: HOLLYWOOD REPORTER