Emilia Clarke is the latest Game of Thrones vet to join the MCU. Following Peter Dinklage’s supporting role in Avengers: Infinity War and both Richard Madden and Kit Harington co-starring in Eternals, Clarke is due to appear in Secret Invasion, the Disney Plus series featuring Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury. We still don’t know exactly who she’ll be playing in the series, but Clarke has teased that she’s hoping to stick around the franchise for a long time yet.
Clarke recently spoke with The Hollywood Reporter who asked her whether she’d be interested in playing her mystery Marvel character “for nearly a decade” just like she portrayed Daenerys Targaryen for eight seasons of the HBO hit. Clarke made clear that she would, mostly because she’s heard a lot of good things about working with Marvel from her friends.
“I mean, I should be so lucky is what I’ll say to that,” Clark said. “Everyone I know and everyone I’ve spoken to who is a part of the Marvel universe — and actors talk! Everyone has only the highest praise to offer. There’s a reason why actors stay in it. They’re so loved because they’re having loads of fun. So I’m down for that.”
Having already been involved in a couple of major projects that ultimately failed to produce any sequels – Terminator: Genisys and Solo: A Star Wars Story – Clarke clearly knows that things don’t always go to plan, so she’s careful not to commit to anything with her comments to THR. But it definitely sounds like there’s a strong potential for her to reprise her role in various places after Secret Invasion.
So just who is Clarke playing? There was initially some talk of her being the Skrull Queen, but the top contender is now Abigail Brand, the green-haired head of SWORD. As a counterpart to SHIELD’s Fury, it’s easy to see how Brand could become a fixture in the MCU, turning up now and again to aid – or possibly get in the way of – the Avengers. Even if the theories are wrong and she’s not playing Brand, it’s hard to imagine that Marvel would waste someone with Clarke’s star power on a one-off gig.
With Ben Mendelsohn returning as Skrull leader Talos, and Olivia Colman and Kinglsey Ben-Adir also joining the cast, Secret Invasion is shooting now in the UK and will premiere on Disney Plus sometime in 2022.