In Marvel’s new Disney+ series, Secret Invasion, Ben Mendelsohn returns as Talos, the Skrull ally-turned-stand-in for Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury. In Spider-Man: Far From Home it was revealed that Fury was taking a little break on the S.A.B.E.R. Space Station while Talos posed as him on Earth. However, with the emergence of a new threat, one that hits especially close to home for Talos, it’s time for him to call Fury back and step up in an especially big way himself.

During a one-on-one conversation with Collider’s Perri Nemiroff, Mendelsohn reflects on how his character’s storyline has changed since first joining the MCU via Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s Captain Marvel. The MCU introduced the shapeshifting Skulls in that 2019 release, marking the start of Talos and Fury’s friendship and collaboration. Many years later in Secret Invasion, a rebel faction of Skrulls led by the ruthless Gravik (Kinglsey Ben-Adir) is threatening Earth, putting Talos in a difficult position as he tries to figure out how to keep humans safe while making due on unfulfilled promises made to his own people.
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Check out the full interview in the video above or read the conversation in transcript form below to find out what was supposed to happen on page 56 of the Captain Marvel screenplay, how posing as Nick Fury changes Talos’ arc, what it’s like sharing scenes Jackson, and more.

PERRI NEMIROFF: What would you say is the biggest difference between the Talos you pictured when you were first offered the role for Captain Marvel and who he has turned out to be in Secret Invasion, and maybe beyond?

BEN MENDELSOHN: There’s been an evolution there, which was completely unexpected. I took the job because it was Ryan [Fleck] and Anna [Boden] who I had done a film with and they said, “Would you come and do this?” I was like, “Sure.” I knew I’d have a brief time there, he was gonna die on page 56, and here we are. It’s awesome. It’s been one of the great working honors of my life to be in what is considered the greatest contemporary film studio on Earth. It’s awesome.

At this point, so far after Captain Marvel, are you able to reveal how he died in that original script?

MENDELSOHN: Basically, those Kree punks came on in and started some drama, and then one of the things that happened was that he fought. He gets done in that time. We understand a little bit about what’s going on, but that’s it. He’s gone, he’s gone.

I’m glad that was changed!

MENDELSOHN: Me too.

Image via Marvel

You bring up Ryan and Anna, and I’m curious, is there anything about your collaboration with them and what it brought out in the character that you have found yourself holding especially tight to that we can see reflected in your Secret Invasion performance, but then also, what is something about your collaboration with Ali [Selim] that has added something new to the character that maybe you didn’t expect?

MENDELSOHN: That’s a great question. I talked with Ryan and Anna who were familiar with the whole project, and one of the things which Anna had said to me was, “Make sure that we find a way to keep that humor,” because I referred back to them as the original creators of this. And so that is something that we find. You’re not seeing a lot of it at this time, but you will come to see parts of it. Now, what’s changed about him is this is a guy who really has the weight of the world on his shoulders, and the humor is a lot more like traditional Australian humor, which is like [gestures emphatically], which is derisive kind of humor. It’s just awesome when you get to do it with Sam [Jackson]. It’s awesome.

The answer to this next question might be a no, but it’s not very often that someone literally gets the opportunity to walk in somebody else’s shoes, and Talos has done that with Nick Fury. Is there anything about that experience that now makes Talos rethink what kind of person Nick Fury is, or maybe have a different perspective on what his job is like?

MENDELSOHN: That’s a fantastic question, and you know, one of the wonderful things about what’s happened in this entire thing is that [Spider-Man:] Far From Home was unexpected for me as it’s revealed that, “Yeah, yeah, I carried the ball for you the whole time.” But what I think he really learns about what Fury’s had to go through or who he is and isn’t, is what Talos tells him. You’re gonna see it. You’re gonna see who Nick Fury is and what Talos has brought to the table as to who he is, and that, I think, is, to me, one of the great pleasures about who this guy actually ends up being in the MCU, who the Skrulls end up being in the MCU versus who they are in the canonical works.

Image via Disney+

I’m so excited to see that evolve! I think Sam is one of the greatest working actors in this business. I’m such a huge fan of his, so I’m curious to hear a little bit about your collaboration as actors. What is something about him as a scene partner that makes him stand out from all the other incredible actors you’ve worked with, maybe even something he does to help you act to something in your own character that you can’t reach without him?

MENDELSOHN: Sam is just like one of the coolest humans that ever got on a screen. Sam is someone that, if you saw Jungle Fever, if you caught him back then and you understand, and you saw him in Jurassic Park, then you understand that this guy has ended up becoming the box office winner of the entire human race and it’s unlikely, as things stand, that that will ever be broken. This man is a man of such achievements. The great thing about working with Sam is, every now and then, you just see these slightly different versions of him, and it’s just really special.

That’s one of the best things about the job, full stop. You get to go to work and go, “Oh, look who’s there, look who’s there!” And you also get to complain all day if you’d like and you still get paid the same money. [Laughs] But to be able to do that and to just be around and to have a relationship where we talk a bit of rubbish together and whatnot, but Sam makes you better. Sam makes you better because you are acting across one of the most important people, in terms of screen acting, of our time. You don’t pass that sort of stuff up lightly, and you don’t half-step if you can avoid it.

Secret Invasion is available to stream on Disney+. Check out Perri’s interview with Samuel L. Jackson and Olivia Colman below!