Warning: The following article contains spoilers for the Secret Invasion season one finale.
Marvel has a big reputation for keeping closely guarded secrets on set, but this wasn’t a concern for Secret Invasion’s director, Ali Selim. When shooting the big reveal of the climactic finale, the director was never concerned about keeping a pivotal scene a secret.
During its six-episode run, the main conflict haunting Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) is exactly how many mistakes could one man possibly make. When he was the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., there was almost no line he wouldn’t cross to ensure the safety of otherworldly threats. But after the dissolution of the government agency, Fury realizes there are only so many people he can trust — especially in light of an invasion of Skrulls who have taken it upon themselves to pose as well-known characters in the MCU. Impersonating Rhodey (Don Cheadle) was a big hit for Marvel fans. A close confidante of Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), Rhodey was a character always interested in doing the right thing. Rhodey being a Skrull was a shock, as were the final events of the season finale.
Fury and the Skrull leader Gravik (Kinsgley Ben-Adir) finally meet face to face after fighting against each other’s interests, only for viewers to realize Fury isn’t Fury, but G’iah (Emilia Clarke) instead. The daughter of Talos (Ben Mendelsohn) poses as Fury and is the one that Gravik has his final battle with. This was a big twist, but even so, Selim told Collider following the episode airing that keeping it a secret hadn’t entered into the conversation.
“Everybody was aware of what we were doing and in the moment. The big thing between Sam and Kingsley took days and days to shoot, and they both knew, and we both knew. But then, when the reveal comes, everybody who was on set watched Sam step off the mark and Emilia [Clarke] step on the mark for the transition to happen. But your question was how many people? 39. [Laughs] I don’t know. I mean, we didn’t hide it from anybody.”
Interestingly enough, Selim’s tepid approach to guarding secrets matches viewer reactions to the scene in question. The reveal that G’iah was posing as Fury and ultimately defeats Gravik wasn’t a big draw for the episode. According to Rotten Tomatoes, episode 6, “Home,” smashed records as the lowest-rated MCU episode in the history of Marvel. Secret Invasion was already on a downturn for using a tired trope in Maria Hill’s (Cobie Smulders) death, and propping up G’iah didn’t warm audiences to the show any further. Just as the director didn’t care about making character decisions make sense, so too do audiences not particularly care for Secret Invasion, now streaming on Disney Plus.