We've Seen Emilia Clarke's Secret Invasion Character In The MCU Before
It seems very much like the entire point of Marvel's upcoming "Secret Invasion" series is to craft a big ol' mystery. And anyone who has read the 2008 comic book series that the show is based on can surely understand why. But several months ahead of the premiere of the much-anticipated Marvel Cinematic Universe event, the curtain is being pulled back just a bit to tell us more. To that end, we finally know precisely who Emila Clarke ("Game of Thrones") is playing — and it's technically not a new character.
While Marvel and the producers of the show don't feel this bit of info is a spoiler, some fans might, so those who want to go in totally blind, turn back now. That aside, in a big piece for Vanity Fair about the series, it's explained that Clarke's G'iah is a shape-shifting Skrull, just like the ones we met in 2019 "Captain Marvel." But the big reveal here is that she's actually the daughter of Talos, played once again by Ben Mendelsohn. Samuel L. Jackson, who returns to the MCU as Nick Fury once again, had this to say:
"Remember when Ben was there with his wife and daughter? She's the little Skrull girl grown up. She's his daughter."
So this is going to be a family affair, it seems. As for what to expect from G'iah, Clarke explains that the difficulties the Skrulls have faced, and living in her father's shadow, have hardened her a bit.
"There's a kind of punk feeling that you get from this girl. 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."
It's all connected, always
Much of the core plot for the show is being kept under wraps, but the idea is that the Skrulls have been invading Earth for some time, replacing humans with shape-shifters, with the endgame being a takeover of the planet. Who can be trusted? That's the idea. So it's clearly going to have some major ramifications for the larger MCU, and almost feels like it could/should be a movie rather than a show. It's impressive we're at a place where a storyline this large is being adapted as a show.
One thing that is made clear by the G'iah reveal is that Marvel is absolutely making sure everything is still connected. That's been the pitch for the MCU from the very beginning when Nick Fury made that cameo at the end of "Iron Man." Now, this show will be deeply tied to "Captain Marvel," and one imagines the show will probably have some implications for this year's "The Marvels," which hits theaters in November. That being the case, for better or worse, hardcore fans kind of need to watch the movies and many of the shows on Disney+ to keep up with all of the storylines these days.
The cast for the series also includes familiar faces such as Don Cheadle (Rhodey) Martin Freeman (Everett Ross), and Cobie Smulders (Maria Hill), with Charlayne Woodard ("Unbreakable"), Kingsley Ben-Adir ("One Night in Miami"), Killian Scott ("Dublin Murders"), and Olivia Colman ("The Favourite") on board as newcomers to the MCU.
"Secret Invasion" debuts on Disney+ on June 21, 2023.