Spoiler warning: The following article contains full spoilers for Marvel’s Secret Invasion.
Editor’s note: This interview was conducted prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike, which was called on July 13.
Marvel’s Secret Invasion has everyone wondering who the Skrulls are, but it turns out even the cast didn’t know.
Speaking to IGN, Dermot Mulroney (who plays Ritson) and Charlayne Woodard (who plays Varra) revealed that Marvel kept its stars firmly in the dark even while filming.
“I had a brief meeting with Emilia Clarke one day,” said Mulroney. “We’re not in any scenes together so it was just lucky they had scenes on one set, and I was shooting on another set.
“The following day, I walked by a very friendly-looking Skrull who I didn’t immediately recognize to be Emilia Clarke… so this Skrull waves and says ‘Hi’, and I don’t have any idea who it is.” Clarke does indeed play a Skrull called G’iah, the daughter of Talos (played by Ben Mendelsohn).
“I was only really seeing the scenes that included President Ritson. Even now, there are parts of Secret Invasion where I don’t know what happens.”
“They controlled the script,” he explained. “I was only really seeing the scenes that included President Ritson. Even now, there are parts of Secret Invasion where I don’t know what happens. There was a lot of confusion on the set of Secret Invasion, a lot of secrets.”
One of those secrets was revealed during Episode 4, which saw the return of Don Cheadle as Rhodey as he attends a clandestine meeting with Nick Fury’s wife, Priscilla. Not only did Woodard have no idea about the big twist, but she also had no idea she would be acting opposite Cheadle himself.
“I came onto the set, it was the very first week of shooting and I had my script, but I did not know who was playing whom,” revealed Woodard. It turned out to be a pivotal scene, with Rhodey outed as a Skrull infiltrator.
“It was really something to know that I’m about to do a scene and we’re going to meet in church, and I have to let him know that we can’t do this. I can’t do this,” she said. “And then, I walk into the makeup trailer, and low and behold, it’s Don Cheadle.”
“I tried to be cool,” she laughed. “I tried to sit there and calm my heart as I sat there and got my makeup done right down the trailer from him. On the way to the church, we were walking into the set and I let him know that I feel like I know everything about him. ‘I’ve seen everything you’ve done and I’m fangirling right now’.”
It’s not unusual for Marvel projects to be shrouded in secrecy. After all, the Avengers: Endgame directors wouldn’t even give Tom Holland a script.
IGN’s Secret Invasion debut review gave it 7/10 and said: “Secret Invasion is a welcome and solid return for the MCU’s lesser-used gritty espionage template, even if its first two episodes lack the sense of fear that it really needs.”
Want to read more about Secret Invasion? Check out why Secret Invasion fans are freaking out about a big reveal as well as why Emilia Clarke insists that green screen acting is still acting.
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.
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