‘Secret Invasion’ cast talks ‘grounded’ Nick Fury story, returning and joining the MCU
“Secret Invasion” has quickly cemented itself as one of Marvel’s darkest and most mature projects in years. In our review, we called the gritty limited series perfect for fans of “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” and “Invasion of the Body Snatchers.”
Before the June 21, 2023, premiere on Disney Plus, some of the cast and producers sat down for a virtual press conference to talk about their characters, the story’s stakes, and Phase Five of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Nick Fury
“Secret Invasion” is very much a Nick Fury story, and actor Samuel L. Jackson explained his character’s status as of the new series.
“This is my second appearance post-snap (‘Avengers: Infinity War’), and he’s been kinda gone for a while,” Jackson said. “He’s a little tired, a little vulnerable, but coming back to Earth because he’s been summoned. And we’ll see what happens. Got a bad knee now. Not so happy.”
After returning at the end of “Avengers: Endgame,” the former director of S.H.I.E.L.D. basically disappeared to help run S.A.B.E.R. – a government-run aerospace defense program. Fury’s last appearance before Secret Invasion was in the end-credits scene of “Spider-Man: Far From Home,” revealing him living on the space station.
It’s also been decades since Fury made a promise to a group of Skrull refugees to help them find a new home in the 1990s-set “Captain Marvel.” “Secret Invasion” also brings back Ben Mendelsohn’s Talos, the former leader of the shape-shifting Skrull refugees who likewise feels abandoned by Fury and his promises.
“We’re finding Talos in a difficult time,” Mendelsohn said. “It’s a bad time. And by the way, him (Fury), you know, up there? Like, coulda used him.”
The series chiefly follows Fury and Talos as they work against a group of radical Skrulls sowing chaos among the world’s governments and people. These Skrulls are tired of waiting for a new planet, so they’re trying to spark wars between humans in order to take over Earth.
Leading that group is Gravik, played by Kingsley Ben-Adir in his first Marvel role.
Gravik
As Gravik, Ben-Adir plays a quietly terrifying presence. He carries a lot of trauma as well as a lot of mistrust of authority. He’s a young man who’s tired of being let down and watching abuses of power.
“We had many conversations for hours at the beginning…just like Gravik, I don’t really trust why anything was coming to me,” he said. “He just felt like a part that I hadn’t sort of been approached for before. There was an opportunity to do so a little bit different with this one.”
Ben-Adir said he took some inspiration from the character of Manuel in “ZeroZeroZero.”
“I kept seeing kind of weird parallels because I knew the show was trying to be more grounded and kind of darker,” he said. “I guess I took a lot of inspiration from that and how to…make (Gravik) as unsentimental as possible…in his hatred.”
G’iah
Another newcomer to the MCU is Emilia Clarke, whose resume boasts “Game of Thrones,” “Star Wars,” and “Terminator.” Clarke plays G’iah, Talos’ daughter who becomes disillusioned and joins Gravik’s cause.
Clarke said what attracted her the most to the MCU was the people.
“What I can definitely say is that it was the warmest, most gorgeous, safe, lovely, happy, playful set I’ve ever been on,” she said. “You know you’re coming into…you’ve just gone to the top of the tree, you’re there, and then you find everyone who’s there is just having a really good time.”
Sonya Falsworth
Olivia Colman also joins the MCU in “Secret Invasion” as Sonya Falsworth, a scene-stealing MI6 agent.
“Sonya works for MI6. And she like wearing red. And she’s quite funny,” Colman said. “And she’s potentially a little bit not that nice sometimes.”
MCU Phase Five
As the third entry in the MCU’s Phase Five – and the first Disney Plus series in the phase – “Secret Invasion” has the job of hitting story points that will have clear repercussions in future projects.
“And we love to do different genres for everything, and this was an attempt to really dive back into things we touched upon in The Winter Soldier…but hadn’t in a while, and really delving into the tone of a spy show,” Marvel president Kevin Feige said in the press junket. “And seeing a very different dynamic between Fury and Talso than we had seen in sort of our ‘90s buddy action movie, ‘Captain Marvel.’”
Director and executive producer Ali Selim also said the series takes a more grounded tone rather than an intergalactic superhero story.
“It’s the Nick Fury story. He’s a human. He does have his own version of superpowers, but they’re not like superhero supepowers.” Selim said. “And it’s a story about him putting his feet back on the ground once again after some time.”
“And then there is, without a spoiler alert, there is a point in the story where Nick Fury realizes this is his own battle, and he sort of becomes a classic American Western hero. And the tone sort of shifted in the later episodes to Nick Fury as John Wayne.”
Marvel’s “Secret Invasion” is set to have six episodes on Disney Plus. The first episode is available now, and the second episode drops on June 28, 2023.
