Samuel L. Jackson Tells Us About a Different Side of Nick Fury on Disney Plus' Secret Invasion

(SPOT.ph) Marvel Studios’ latest Disney Plus series Secret Invasion begins with a character’s voice over laying out the main conflict of the show: “All we can turn to are people we care about. But what if those people weren’t who we thought they were? What if the ones closest to us were someone else entirely?” He later adds: “What if they weren’t even human?” If you haven’t been keeping up with the Marvel Cinematic Universe lately, Secret Invasion spins-off mostly from 2019’s Captain Marvel—a film that introduced both Captain Marvel and the Skrulls, the latter being a shape-shifting alien race. In this 2023 series, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) must prevent a Skrull invasion from happening, but facing shape-shifters makes trusting anyone a difficult task. “This war is one I have to fight alone,” Fury says.

Secret Invasion brings to life one of Marvel Comics’ most famous and beloved storylines, also named “Secret Invasion”. In the comics released in 2008, the Skrulls had secretly replaced several superheroes over the years, and when things start unraveling, they destabilize much of the Marvel universe. The Disney Plus series, however, removes many of the superheroes, shifting the focus on Nick Fury. When asked about this massive change from the comics, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said, “We knew we weren't going to have every character in the Marvel Universe the way it is in the comics, and it really was to focus on Sam Jackson and really to focus on this ensemble that you see here today, in that as we said political sort of thriller aspect to it. And we had an amazing group of writers and our amazing director, who helped us shepherd it all.”

In a virtual global press conference moderated by Brandon Davis, Feige, along with executive producer Jonathan Schwartz, director Ali Selim, and an all-star cast that includes Samuel L. Jackson, Olivia Colman, Emilia Clarke, Ben Mendelsohn, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Cobie Smulders, and Don Cheadle broke down what Secret Invasion is hoping to achieve and what it meant to be part of this project.

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Here's what you should know about Disney Plus' Secret Invasion

In the first two episodes of Secret Invasion released to the press, we find Nick Fury dealing with terrorist attacks and how it connects to Skrulls, while trying to figure out who he can really trust. For more context, Fury was last seen on a space station called S.A.B.E.R. in the post-credits scene of Spider-Man: Far From Home, and here we find him returning to Earth a little bit against his will. We also find out what some fan favorite MCU characters are up to, as well as just how dangerous the Skrulls have become.

Taking place in “present day MCU”, Secret Invasion marks Samuel L. Jackson’s first lead role after 15 years in the MCU. We learn more about Fury’s backstory and his life now outside of the superheroes. “We've been waiting to do this for, like, years and years and years, you know? The more you find out about him, then the more you're gonna like him. The more I like him,” says Jackson. “[Fury’s] been gone for a while. He's a little tired, a little vulnerable, but coming back to Earth because he's been summoned. Got a bad knee now. Not so happy.” Jackson also jokes that not only do we get more information about Fury’s backstory, but we also find out more personal information such as where Fury lives, saying “We go to his house. We don't know if it's a condo. You got to watch to find out if I live in a condo or a real house. See if I have a yard, you know? What kind of furniture does Nick Fury have?”

While Jackson does joke about some of the story, the show is actually a much grittier and darker atmosphere than more recent Marvel projects, leaning more into political thriller than anything. “We love to do different genres for everything, and this was an attempt to really dive back into things we touched upon in [Captain America: The Winter Soldier] but hadn't in a while, and really delving into the tone of a spy show,” says Feige about the tone of the show. Director Ali Selim adds, “I think it's a very human show. It's the Nick Fury story. He's a human. He does have his own version of superpowers, but they're not like superhero superpowers. And it's a story about him putting his feet back on the ground once again after some time.” Jackson is quick to add though that despite it being a “Nick Fury story,” it’s also a story of all the other characters finding their place in the world, saying “Nick Fury happens to be the generator of a lot of [the plot], but he leads you to all these other people that are really, really, really, really interesting.”

When discussing the tone and influences of Secret Invasion, Selim says that “We went back to look at The Third Man, and The Conversation, and things like that are very grounded and really human. And I hope that we brought enough of that to create the tone. And then there is, without 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.”

Joining Fury on this adventure include some familiar faces in the MCU as well as new ones that promise to shake up the universe. One of the returning characters is someone who’s been by Fury’s side for years, Maria Hill, played by Cobie Smulders. “Working with Sam is my favorite thing,” Smulders says about returning to the MCU once more. But the relationship with Fury is a bit different this time around: “It was really exciting to come back, but I think the relationship is quite strained because she's been calling [Fury in space], and he hasn't been answering.” Another familiar face returning to the MCU is Don Cheadle who plays James Rhodes. Rhodes this time, however, is ditching his War Machine suit for a suit and tie as he works in the White House. “We see him as more a political animal than we have in the past. He's been more of a military man, but now he's sort of, you know, in some ways, a right hand of the president and this special envoy, in that regard,” Cheadle explains. When talking about the lack of superheroes in this, Cheadle adds, “Being in a show like this, that's really a departure from what I have been in, as far as the genre goes, [as] it's really an opportunity to act and really, you know, lean into some human stuff, which was also a lot of fun.”

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Then there’s Talos, played by Ben Mendelsohn, who first appeared in Captain Marvel painted as a villain but actually becomes one of Fury’s most trusted allies. Talos is a Skrull but all he wants is for his family and his race to be safe, unlike some of his more dangerous fellow Skrulls hoping to take over Earth. “We’re finding Talos in a difficult time,” Mendelsohn says, opting to not go further to avoid spoilers, as per usual with Marvel and its details. There are huge swings in this series right off the bat that will definitely shock and surprise people on Twitter if they don’t watch the series right as it drops on June 21.

One new cast member who seems to be struggling on what to say as she avoids saying any spoilers is Academy Award winner Olivia Colman, who throughout the press conference hilariously kept checking back to Feige and Selim to make sure she wasn’t revealing too much (“I’ll never be invited back to another press conference!” she jokes). In Secret Invasion, the scene-stealing Colman plays MI6 agent Sonya, a former colleague of Fury. “[It] doesn't strike me as much of a friendship, but they've got history,” Colman says. “She likes wearing red. And she's quite funny. And she's potentially a little bit not that nice sometimes,” she adds, trying to jump over revealing too much, but Jackson adds, “And possibly, the most dangerous woman in the U.K.”

When talking about why she chose to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Colman said “After every Marvel film that's landed in cinemas, I phoned my agent and said, ‘Please can I be in a Marvel?’ And finally, either she got fed up with me calling her or it happened. So it wasn't ‘Why Secret Invasion’ [but instead] Secret Invasion called. Any mention of the word Marvel and I went, ‘Yes, please.’ So that's why, and I had an absolute ball, and it lived up to everything that I was hoping for.”

Squaring off against our heroes are Game of Thrones’ Emilia Clarke and Peaky Blinders’ Kingsley Ben-Adir, who play G’iah and Gravik respectively, two Skrulls who are leading the rebel group infiltrating Earth. Kingsley’s Gravik is a nasty, cold, and calculating villain. “I don’t think he’s too fond of anyone,” Kingsley says about his character, adding “there's something about how much he hated Nick that was like, ‘God, this feels really enticing.’” When asked about what attracted her to her role, Clarke says that it’s because of “all the people sitting right here. Like, literally. Who on Earth would ever not want to be sitting here with this? With all of these incredible people?”

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With a cast like this, it’s really no surprise that the performances on the show really help sell and carry the much darker, heavier tone that Secret Invasion aims for, and a lot of it is built on the backs of the relationships of these characters, especially Nick and Talos. When talking about how the show came to be, Schwartz said “I think it was the idea that there was more to do with this relationship and with these two characters, with Nick and with Talos. And then we started, the Disney Plus door sort of opened up and we got the opportunity to kind of play more in genres and expand the sandbox of what we can do. And that made Secret Invasion by itself a story that had great source material behind it and was a comic event that a lot of people knew and responded to, and was a very cool genre, specifically for these two characters. And I think that's what really brought the show to life.”

When asked how this show ranks among his MCU appearances and being his first lead role, Jackson says, “It ranks as number one in terms of things that I've done in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I really loved Winter Soldier, so that tone flows into this in a very real kind of way. And it's a story about people doing people stuff without all those supers coming in to save you and help you. It was wonderful being there.”

Watch the Secret Invasion trailer:

Marvel Studios’ Secret Invasion is now streaming on Disney Plus.