IRON FIST Casts Jessica Henwick as Colleen Wing

From a Sand Snake to a Daughter of the Dragon.

Entertainment Weekly reports that the upcoming Netflix series Iron Fist has cast Jessica Henwick as Marvel Comics martial artist Colleen Wing.

According to the article, Colleen Wing will be the series' female lead and is described as "A martial arts expert running her own dojo, Colleen will serve as an invaluable ally to Iron Fist, aka Danny Rand (Finn Jones), as he returns to his life in New York."

"I’m very excited to have Jessica as our Colleen Wing," said Executive Producer and Showrunner, Scott Buck.  "She’s shown us that she can bring both a sense of quiet strength as well as an engaging vulnerability to the character."

"Jessica brings both a youthful vitality mixed with a strong sense of authority crucial to the character," said Executive Producer/Head of Marvel Television, Jeph Loeb.  "And as anyone who’s seen her in Game of Thrones can attest, she can throw down with the best of them, making her the perfect Colleen Wing."

Henwick, 23, is an English actress best known as Nymeria Sand on the HBO series Game of Thrones, which also featured Finn Jones as Ser Loras Tyrell.  She recently appeared in the film Star Wars: The Force Awakens as X-Wing pilot Jessika Pava, and has appeared in the television series Fortitude, Silk, The Thick of It, and Spirit Warriors.

Created in 1974 by Doug Moench and Larry Hama, Colleen Wing first appeared in Marvel Premiere #19 as the daughter of Professor Lee Wing, a teacher of Asian history and culture at New York's Columbia University, and an unnamed Japanese woman, whose ancestors were samurai and daimyo.  Colleen grew up in the northern regions of Japan, raised by her grandfather Kanji because Colleen's mother was killed very early in her childhood.  Her grandfather taught her the ways of the samurai, in which she later became very skilled.

Professor Wing learned from a monk who had been to the other-dimensional realm of K'un-L'un that a young warrior, Iron Fist, would come from that land to seek vengeance on his father's killer, who was now based in New York.  Professor Wing calculated when Iron Fist would come to New York and sent Colleen to meet him.  Professor Wing and Colleen befriended Iron Fist, and Colleen has acted as his ally in many of his adventures.

Years later, Colleen went back to New York City to visit her father. She was caught in a gun battle by the local Manhattan police and some thugs.  Luckily, she was rescued by officer Misty Knight, who eventually became her best friend.  Later, Knight's right arm was severely injured by a bomb explosion and was amputated.  Colleen encouraged Knight to rise above her depression and return to an active role in life.  Knight's right arm was replaced with a bionic steel arm.  As a detective, Colleen Wing and Knight formed a partnership as private investigators and called their firm Nightwing Restorations, Ltd.  Due to Wing's samurai-style training and both partners' expertise in Asian martial arts, they were called "The Daughters of the Dragon."

Colleen teamed with Misty in opposing agents of the criminal Emil Vachon in Hong Kong, until she was captured by Vachon, who turned her into a heroin addict.  She was rescued by Misty Knight, overcame her addiction, and took vengeance on Vachon.  Colleen soon fought Davos, the second Steel Serpent, and met Spider-Man.  She later aided the X-Men and Sunfire in battling Moses Magnum in Japan.  Accompanying the X-Men to Canada, she made romantic overtures towards Cyclops, whose girlfriend Jean Grey was presumed dead at the time.  She was held prisoner by Arcade soon after, until the X-Men freed her.

Following Daredevil's takeover of Hell's Kitchen during the Shadowland storyline, Colleen, Misty, Iron Fist, Luke Cage, and Shang-Chi confronted him in attempt to stop him without violence.  After a commotion happens elsewhere in his castle, he attacked the group, believing they were responsible.  Days after the fight, Colleen was contacted by Daredevil, offering information about her mother.  Upon visiting him again, he revealed to her that her mother actually led a resurrected Hand group of swordswomen called "The Nail." Colleen's mother and the Nail were eventually assassinated by one of The Hand's enemies. Daredevil asked her to lead a new incarnation of the Nail consisting of Black Lotus, Cherry Blossom, Makro, and Yuki.  Colleen later betrayed the Nail and had to defend herself against them.

Iron Fist is expected to air on Netflix sometime in 2017.