Samuel L. Jackson and Olivia Colman on meeting a different kind of Nick Fury in ‘Secret Invasion’

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Samuel L. Jackson has been playing Nick Fury for 15 years in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but he’s only scratching the surface of all the layers there are to the heroic super spy.

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“It’s just peeling the onion and having a good time,” the actor says of the evolving arc of the former director of S.H.I.E.L.D and puppet master behind the Avengers. “This is my second appearance post-snap. He’s been kind of gone for a while. He’s a little tired, a little vulnerable. He’s got a bad knee now, so he’s not so happy.”

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After first introducing the character with his trademark leather trench coat and black eyepatch in 2008’s Iron Man, Jackson, 74, has played the Marvel figure in 10 different projects. This week, Fury takes centre stage in Secret Invasion, streaming on Disney+.

Based on a comic book run penned by Brian Michael Bendis in 2008, the six-episode miniseries casts Fury in an espionage story that finds him summoned back to Earth to stop a clandestine invasion from an extremist band of shapeshifting Skrulls — the same human-impersonating extraterrestrials he befriended in the 1990s-set Captain Marvel.

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“[Executive producer] Jonathan [Schwartz] came into my office with this idea of translating the great Secret Invasion storyline from the comics in a darker, grittier spy show, which we hadn’t done before,” Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige says of the series. “We love to do different genres for everything, and this was an attempt to dive back into things we touched upon in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.”

“I loved Winter Soldier, and that tone filtered into this,” Jackson adds.

As he tries to unravel a plot for world domination spearheaded by Skrull leader Gravik (Kingsley Ben-Adir), Fury crosses paths with Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders), Martin Freeman’s Everett K. Ross, Ben Mendelsohn’s alien leader Talos and Don Cheadle’s James “Rhodey” Rhodes. Newcomers like Olivia Colman, as shadowy MI6 agent Sonya Falsworth, and Emilia Clarke’s G’iah (Talos’ daughter) also enter the fray.

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“Sonya likes wearing red and she’s potentially a little bit not-so nice sometimes,” Colman, 49, says cryptically describing the wrench her character adds to the storyline.

“She’s possibly the most dangerous woman in the U.K.,” Jackson says with a laugh.

After playing Daenerys Targaryen on HBO’s Game of Thrones, Clarke jumped at the chance to star in another major franchise.

“I’ve been well prepped in spoiler land,” she jokes of Marvel’s penchant for keeping secrets. “This is the warmest set I’ve ever been on.”

Director Ali Selim says that this is one of Marvel’s first stories where the protagonist can’t rely on superheroes to save the day.

“There’s a point in the story where Nick Fury realizes this is his own battle, and he sort of becomes a classic Western hero and the tone shifts in the later episodes to Nick Fury as John Wayne,” he says.

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Jackson bristles at the comparison, but, joined by the Oscar winning Colman, he spoke to Postmedia about the different kind of Nick Fury Marvel fans will meet when Secret Invasion debuts June 21 on Disney+.

Sam, after 15 years of playing Nick Fury, what’s been the best part of peeling back the layers to this character we all love?

Jackson: “I’m not sure we’ve come through with the best, yet. This is a deeper opportunity for me to show people who Nick Fury is, who he was and where he came from. You find out he’s not the person that he used to be. But he’s trying to overcome what his inadequacies are now to get back to being the Nick Fury that he needs to be to solve this problem.”

Ms. Colman, did Sam give you any tips for keeping Marvel’s secrets?

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Colman: “Actors don’t give each other advice. It’s page one to not do that. We giggled when we first met, and Sam put his hand on my shoulder and said, ‘We’re going to have fun,’ and we really did.”

Was the Marvel Cinematic Universe something you were hoping to explore?

Colman: “I had become a huge fan of Marvel through my children and after every release of a Marvel project, I’d phone my agent and I’d say, ‘Please, can I be in a Marvel [movie]?’ When I told my children I was going to be in this, I had never seen them look at me with such admiration before.”

Jackson: “All good actors aren’t film snobs. They don’t just all want to do statue chasing stuff. We want to do fun things.”

Colman: “We want to do everything.”

Jackson: “All of it.”

Mr. Jackson, what’s the biggest life lesson you’ve taken away from playing a guy like Nick Fury?

Jackson: “You don’t have to be the strongest person in the room to have influence.”

Secret Invasion debuts June 21 on Disney+

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Twitter: @markhdaniell

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