VANITY FAIR Who are you, really? That question is at the core of the new Marvel series Secret Invasion, which follows Samuel L. Jackson’s spymaster, Nick Fury, as he uncovers a conspiracy to quietly install double agents into positions of power around the world. In a traditional espionage story, these might be operatives from hostile rival nations, but in the Marvel Cinematic Universe the infiltration has an otherworldly origin: shape-shifting green-skinned extraterrestrials known as Skrulls, who can perfectly simulate any human being at will. Figuring out who is who becomes especially daunting.

“We don’t know who’s a friend, who’s the enemy,” Jackson tells Vanity Fair for this exclusive deep dive into the upcoming series. “There’s a political aspect that kind of fits into where we are right now: Who’s okay? Who’s not? What happens when people get afraid and don’t understand other people? You can’t tell who’s innocent and who’s guilty in this particular instance.”

Nick Fury first became an ally of the Skrulls in the 1990s-set Captain Marvel, when he and Ben Mendelsohn’s alien leader, Talos, fought side by side. In that story, the Skrulls were not a threat, just the innocent victims of a galactic war who needed help. But decades have passed since then. “He told the Skrulls they were trying to find them a place to live,” Jackson says. “He promised them they were going to find them a planet or somewhere they could be. And that’s not going so well.”

Now a group of Skrull extremists has arisen—and they’re tired of asking and tired of waiting. The clandestine takeover in Secret Invasion is their solution, and Gravik (played by One Night in Miami’s Kingsley Ben-Adir) is the resistance leader who has radicalized them. He breaks from the Talos-led faction to seize the resources they need—first quietly, while in disguise, then by force, if needed. The storyline mirrors countless true stories from actual history when displaced groups have first fractured, then lashed out after patience and diplomacy are exhausted.

“I think any time that you get cultures that have significant tensions between groups of people, then you can find a corollary,” says Mendelsohn. “The Cold War stuff is the big one that jumps out, but there is plenty of strife between groups of people that this addresses.”

The conflict is not just geopolitical, it’s personal. One Skrull radical, Emilia Clarke’s G’iah (pronounced “Guy-ah”), has issues with Talos that go far deeper than most. While this is the Game of Thrones actor’s first appearance in a Marvel Studios project, her character has actually appeared before.

(Fair warning—the showrunners don’t consider the following a spoiler, but some fans might.)

When asked about Clarke’s character, Jackson points out a scene from 2019’s Captain Marvel in which Fury witnesses a reunion between Mendelsohn’s Talos and his long-lost Skrull family aboard a space station orbiting Earth. “Remember when Ben was there with his wife and daughter?” Jackson says. “She’s the little Skrull girl grown up. She’s his daughter.”

Growing up amidst constant war makes it hard to ever stop fighting. Living in the shadow of a powerful parent makes the situation even more dire—especially when they’re a leader who is seen as having failed. In G’iah’s case, resistance was virtually inevitable. “It’s hardened her, for sure. There’s a kind of punk feeling that you get from this girl,” Clarke says. “She’s a refugee kid who’s had Talos for a dad, you know what I mean? Maybe the fact that we didn’t know he had a kid up until this point tells you everything you need to know about their relationship.”
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Unlike some of Marvel’s other recent projects, like the seemingly perpetually leaking Spider-Man: No Way Home, the aptly named Secret Invasion show is, well, very much a secret. Even as pictures of costumed actors, set videos, and looks at wardrobe warehouses spill out, nothing substantive has been established about the series.

This element of mystery even applies to the characters set to appear in the upcoming series. While fans know that actors Emilia Clarke and Olivia Colman will be joining the show, as well as the larger MCU, the roles they are playing are still under wraps.

Even as footage of Clarke’s character in action has made its way onto the internet, it’s still unclear what role she will be playing in the series. For Colman, fans aren’t entirely sure if she’s good or evil, but that goes with the territory when it comes to the Secret Invasion storyline.

Multiple fan theories have guessed that Abigail Brand may appear in the series, though whether the character will be brought to life by Clarke, Colman, another actor, or even not at all is still unclear.

Even as the series itself is largely a mystery, recent comments have shed light on the on-set experience, including the relationships between actors…

Secret Invasion’s (Inter)Stellar Cast

In a recent live talk with Josh Horowitz, actor Samuel L. Jackson spoke to his experience acting alongside his Secret Invasion co-stars, including Emilia Clarke, Olivia Colman, Ben Mendelsohn, and Martin Freeman. Jackson had nothing but praise for Clarke, calling her “amazing.”

“Emilia, amazing. It’s like, c’mon man, you walk on the set and you go, ‘Okay, that’s the Queen of Dragons.’ She’s so tiny. She’s like a fairy, you want to hold her!”

Jackson also shared his excitement at being able to act alongside Olivia Colman, noting that the work was “so glorious and such a ball.”

“When I walked in the room and Olivia Colman was standing there, I was just like, ahahah, this is gonna be so amazing! And she looked at me and went like ahahaha! And, you know, we just started laughing. And when we started to work it was so glorious and such a ball. And not this, you know, serious, crazy, deepness, you know. We were just kind of having a good time. She is so amazing and so effective in a scene. You know, it’s those moments that when you’re in the middle of doing it and you feel it and you watch it happen, that when they finally say cut, all you can do is look at the other person and go, oh my god, that was amazing, that was so great! And she’s like, you’re better than I thought! She was great.”

Behind the Scenes of Secret Invasion

While these comments don’t answer the mystery of who these actors will be playing in the series, they do shed some light on the behind-the-scenes experience, as well as the characters fans can expect Samuel L. Jackson’s somewhat different looking Nick Fury to interact with.

It appears that the process of shooting Secret Invasion has been a largely enjoyable affair, with Jackson pointing towards great experiences with Clarke, Colman, Ben Mendelsohn, and even Martin Freeman. The series sees the MCU continue to increase its roster of talented actors, so it makes sense that Jackson would welcome the chance to work with such highly acclaimed figures.

It also seems that fans can expect to see Nick Fury spend a good deal of time with both Clarke and Colman. Whether this is in a friendly or antagonistic capacity, however, is still unknown.

In all likelihood, these roles will shift over the course of the series, with one or both actors revealed to be Skrull agents. After all, that’s the strength of the Secret Invasion storyline – the shifting relationships and paranoid, unstable relationships. Giving such talented actors roles as Skrulls makes sense, providing them with a range of emotions and characters to play.

Even so, fans wanting to find out more about the scope and style of the Skrull menace presented in the series will likely just have to wait until Disney chooses to provide a more official look, as for now, the secrets of Secret Invasion are still very much under lock and key.