‘Secret Invasion’ Star Ben Mendelsohn Says the Marvel Series Is ‘No Different Than a Film’
Warning: Spoilers for Episode 1 of Marvel’s “Secret Invasion” below.
After his introduction to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in “Captain Marvel” and an appearance in “Spider-Man: Far From Home,” actor Ben Mendelsohn is coming to the small screen for his return as the Skrull Talos in “Secret Invasion.”
“It doesn’t feel like a TV show because really what it feels we’ve made is three or four films back to back to back. And because of the quality and the production echelon we’re working on, it’s no different than a film whatsoever,” he told TheWrap. “It’s a great honor to be asked back because of whatever rapport Sam and I developed through ‘Captain Marvel,’ which was all bonus material. Talos originally died on page 50-something in ‘Captain Marvel.’ So everything after that has been a bonus and to get to do that with [Samuel L. Jackson] is just kind of like heaven.”
The Disney+ series will dive deeper into the relationship between Talos and his daughter G’iah, played by Emilia Clarke.
“G’iah was like the gift that kept on giving. I was a fan of Emilia being a [‘Game of Thrones’] tragic, I became a GOT tragic, and Emilia I have to say was a revelation to me. I expected whatever I expected, but she brought such a strong sense of things,” he said. “We disagreed on things and then we found a way to synthesize this into the relationship. So having Emilia and who Emilia actually is versus my sort of version of that was a f–ing delight.”
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In addition to exploring Talos’ relationship with G’iah, Mendelsohn teased that new details will emerge about his relationship with Nick Fury.
“You are gonna find out some stuff or you won’t, because you will not understand the level of complexity and depth that we’re operating at, but you will understand stuff between Talos and Fury that we didn’t know before this,” he said. “I love Talos and I think Talos is really, really up against the biggest questions you could have as a leader and this project is just much more substantial, much better, much more awesome than I could have foreseen.”
He described the series as a “Cold War thriller.”
“It’s so ballsy,” he added. “To be able to pick up The Secret Invasion, the canonical book, take it and turn it into what they’ve turned it into or we’ve turned it into is something pretty special and there’s some amazing performers here.”
In addition to Jackson, Mendelsohn and Clarke, the series stars Colbie Smulders, Olivia Colman, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Don Cheadle and Martin Freeman.
The first episode of Secret Invasion is streaming now on Disney+. New episodes are available every Wednesday.
