Samuel L. Jackson is one of the OG Marvel Cinematic Universe folks, appearing as Nick Fury for the first time in the post-credits stinger for “Iron Man” and introducing the concept of the Avengers. From there, he’s been in a number of MCU films, but he has yet to get the chance to headline his own project. That all changes with “Secret Invasion.” But that doesn’t mean he’s the only returning character who will be showing up in the Disney+ series.
Speaking on the Happy, Sad, Confused podcast, Samuel L. Jackson talked about his new Apple TV+ series, “The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey,” but also took the time to update fans about his new Marvel Studios show, “Secret Invasion,” including which familiar faces might be showing up.
Jackson was marveling, pardon the pun, about the cast, glowing about Olivia Colman (more in a moment), Emilia Clarke (“that’s the Queen of Dragons, she’s so tiny!”), Ben Mendelsohn, and mentioned others, previously unannounced, like Martin Freeman, presumably reprising his role as CIA agent Everett Ross, last seen in “Black Panther,” and Don Cheadle, aka War Machine, who was last seen giving some advice to the new Captain America in “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.”
“C’mon man you walk on the set, Emilia’s amazing… Ben Mendelsohn, he’s awesome. Don, Don Cheadle,” he revealed. “I got Don, that’s my golf buddy. I didn’t realize it, but til we did this thing, I was like, ‘We’ve never worked together.’ We just kinda know each other, hang out and laugh… but we’d never worked together and we finally [got to work together].”
As mentioned, Cheadle previously was seen in ‘Falcon’ last year, and it’s unclear just how big of a role he might have in “Secret Invasion.” The new series, as the title implies, is set to follow an alien invasion unlike any we’ve seen before, where shapeshifters (the Skrulls, first seen in “Captain Marvel“) replace high-profile figures in an attempt to take over from the inside. Nick Fury (Jackson), obviously, isn’t a huge fan of this idea. The series is directed by Thomas Bezucha (“The Family Stone“) and Ali Selim (“Criminal Minds“).
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While we don’t know what Cheadle will do in “Secret Invasion,” we do know that the actor is also working on his own series, “Armor Wars,” which is set to debut sometime after Jackson’s series. That show is expected to follow the story about the aftermath of Tony Stark’s death in ‘Endgame.’
While he doesn’t play golf with Colman (that we know of), Jackson was more effusive when talking about working with the aforementioned Colman.
“When I walked in the room and Olivia Colman was standing there, I was just like, ‘Ahhhh!” Jackson explained. “We just started laughing, and when we started to work, it was so glorious and such a ball. Not this, serious, crazy deepness, you know? We were just kind of having a good time. She is so amazing and so effective in a scene.”
“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,’ you look at the other person and go, ‘Oh my god, that was amazing.’ She was great.”
If we’re looking for more potential cameos potentially down the road, Jackson said “Captain Marvel 2,” aka “The Marvels,” “Ant-Man 3,” aka “Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantummania” and “Secret Invasion” were all shooting at the same time on the same lot and he could stop by and visit people, soooo… fingers crossed, right? Any crossover from any of those cast members for brief appearances surely wouldn’t be that hard.
Listen to the full conversation below:
