Finn Jones (Loras) returns to Twitter following Iron Fist debate, Richard Madden travels in space

Finn Jones has had his share of explosive (yes, that was a pun) moments onscreen as Loras Tyrell, but has swapped broadswords for fists of fury in his new Netflix show, Iron Fist, where he plays the titular superhero.

The show has gotten into some hot water for its casting. Jones’ character, Danny Rand, is a white man who learns martial arts in Asia before returning to New York to fight crime. Some have accused Marvel of missing an opportunity to cast an Asian-American actor in the role. (Rand is a white man in the comics, for the record.) Jones entered this debate last week, and the fallout caused him to leave Twitter.

It started when Jones retweeted a speech about representation made by actor and musician Riz Ahmed.

Coming as it did from a man at the center of a representation scandal, this didn’t go down well with everyone. Singapore-born writer Asyiqin Haron, creative director for Geeks of Color, a website devoted to promoting diversity within popular culture, responded:

Jones replied to Haron, and what followed was the most typical of internet arguments — one that ended with no resolution.

As this happened, thousands of others weighed in on the matter, and Jones deactivated his Twitter account shortly afterwards. Meanwhile, Haron was subjected to so much abuse from Jones’ fans, including one who told her to “go die,” that she set her Twitter account to private for a time. She has since removed the privacy setting.

On Monday, perhaps mindful of the fact that Iron Fist debuts in just over a week, Jones returned to Twitter, and spoke to Deadline about his decision to temporarily quit.

"There is a huge benefit to engage and help shape conversations on social media, especially when it comes to giving a voice to social matters. My original intention was to amplify a speech made by Riz Ahmed at the House of Commons. It was a very articulate and important speech on representation that I wholly agreed with. After posting I was inundated by people accusing me of not being allowed to share his voice based on an assumption that our show is going to play into the problems of racial inequality on screen.  I engaged politely, diplomatically and attempted to bridge the divide. I’m currently in the middle of filming and I need to stay focused on bringing to life this character without judgment, so I decided to remove myself from Twitter for the time being.I am very proud of the work everyone has done on this series and I’m excited for people to see how we’ve adapted the story. We have gone to great lengths to represent a diverse cast with an intelligent, socially progressive storyline. I hope people can watch the show before making judgments. In times, as divisive as these, we need to stay unified, compassionate and understanding in our differences."

Anyone hoping to catch Jones in another episode of Twitter drama may be disappointed, but there isn’t long to wait until Iron Fist rolls into town. Early reviews of the series have been negative, but you can decide for yourself when the full 13-episode season arrives on Netflix on March 17.

Jones stars alongside Rosario Dawson, Tom Pelphrey, Carrie-Anne Moss, Lewis Tan and fellow Game of Thrones cast member Jessica Henwick (Nymeria Sand).

From one streaming service to another, Amazon is kicking off their pilot season on March 17, and Richard Madden (Robb Stark) is headlining one of their offerings. Oasis, a sci-fi adventure, is based on author Michael Faber’s “The Book of Strange New Things” and also stars Mark Addy, better known to Game of Thrones fans as Robert Baratheon. Haley Joel Osment and Zawe Ashton are also in the mix.

Madden plays Peter, a chaplain who is sent into space to help establish a colony on a distant planet, only to find his faith severely tested. It’ll certainly be a nice change for Madden, who has carved a niche for himself playing rich nobleman in historical settings.

Whether the pilot is picked up is up to the fans — Amazon’s pilot season puts out several shows before taking fan feedback to decide what gets a series order. Oasis is standing against The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, a new series from Gilmore Girls creator Amy Sherman-Palladino, so lets hope that the Game of Thrones fans come out to vote in force.