Editor’s note: The below interview contains spoilers for Episode 1 of Secret Invasion.Marvel’s Secret Invasion series premiered this week on Disney+, and already the first small-screen installment of the MCU’s Phase Five has proven that it’s here to raise the stakes. The show, which hails from creator Kyle Bradstreet and director Ali Selim, shares more in common with a spy drama than a story revolving around an intense intergalactic threat — set against the backdrop of a global conspiracy that has been in the works for a while. In fact, by the time Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury is summoned from deep space, returning to Earth in order to stop a Skrull takeover of the planet, it’s clear that the invasion — led by Kingsley Ben-Adir’s rebel Skrull Gravik — has already begun.
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We didn’t have to wait long to find out what the personal repercussions for Nick Fury would be, as the premiere episode, “Resurrection,” culminated in a loss not only for the character but for those of us tuning in at home. While trying to thwart an attack in Moscow by members of the Skrull rebellion, Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) is shot by Gravik himself — who just happens to be wearing Nick Fury’s face at the time. Devastated, the former director of S.H.I.E.L.D. barely makes it to the side of his most loyal ally and partner before he’s forced to flee the scene. It’s a shocking note to end the first episode on, but it also sets the tone for how costly this rebellion might be for Nick Fury and his companions. Even though we know some characters will more than likely make it out alive, it doesn’t make the losses hit any less hard.

In the wake of that bombshell premiere, Collider had the opportunity to catch up with Smulders to discuss her time on Secret Invasion. Over the course of the interview, which you can read below, the actress reveals when she first learned about her character’s fate, whether she ever thought Maria would survive her previous appearances, the backstory details she created over the years, the history of working alongside Jackson as a scene partner, whether we’ll see her again in the MCU, and more.

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Collider: I was going to ask how you are, but I’m also assuming there’s some relief involved.

COBIE SMULDERS: Well, there’s relief, and there’s pride that I didn’t leak it. Like, how did we manage to do that? Yeah, I’m glad that it’s out. I have to say thank you to Collider because I don’t really go online very much and read stuff, but Collider wrote a really lovely article about Maria Hill before all of this, and my sister-in-law sent it to me, and it really made me feel good about her, so thank you very much. I forgot a lot of the details, so it made me happy to wander down memory lane.

I’m glad we were able to pay tribute to your career in this franchise because I think it’s well-deserved. When did you find out that this was going to be her fate? How long have you had to keep this a secret?

SMULDERS: I’ve always known, since I was first called about it. This is Sam’s show, and this event happening is certainly going to affect his character going forward. I’ve always known about it, and I wasn’t surprised by it at all. It wasn’t like I did something mid-production, and they were like, “Well, you’re out!” I’ve been prepared for a long time about it, and we’ve been working on this for quite some time. I’ve gotten to properly soak it in, and I got to soak in my Sam Jackson moments on set as much as I could.

Image via Disney+

We’ve had over a decade with your character, since her first introduction to the MCU. Did you ever feel like there was a point when Maria wouldn’t survive a previous installment? Did you ever get a script and think, “Is this going to be the movie where I have to say goodbye?”

SMULDERS: Honestly, this world has become so large, and there are so many characters. There’s so much going on that I’m just grateful for my little sliver that I have. I was just happy when the phone did ring, and I am such a fan of Marvel myself that I’ve never really put my character first. Maybe that’s because she acts as a conduit to the characters and from the audience to the characters and the story. I’ve always seen her as very much a part of a team. It’s interesting, reaping the impact that it has had on fans, which is nice because I guess that means that they’re invested in her storyline. But I’ve always just seen her as a part of this team, and this is a human who’s enlisted in this weird world and is constantly putting her life at risk. I think that risk has always been around, just always in the ether.

I’m honing in on you calling her a “conduit,” but she’s also become a very complex character. Were there any backstory things, details that you filled in personally over the years in order to flesh the character out for yourself?

SMULDERS: Oh, yeah, I kind of had to, especially with the relationships and especially with the stakes, which is always such a fascinating thing to come up with every production. “Well, the Blip happened, so is that the worst-case scenario, or is this as bad of a scenario?” I’ve always had to create this backstory for her and also be aware of the fact of… how does one person deal with all of that emotionally?

It was exciting, I will say, in Secret Invasion, and even a little bit in Spider-Man [Far From Home], to be able to play, “This is insane,” you know? To not just be the person who’s like, “OK, audience, we gotta go here, we gotta go have this hero moment, and we’ve gotta all rally together and beat the thing!” It was nice to be able to play someone and be like, “This is so frustrating.” Especially in this episode, to be the one to say to Fury, “You shouldn’t really be here, buddy. You’re not really up for it.” To have those honest conversations, which have been playing in the background of my mind before going into these scenes in other productions, it was cool to bring that to the forefront.

Image via Disney+

That dynamic is so lived-in by the time we pick up with them in Secret Invasion — specifically that scene in the pub, where you feel the history there. I would love to hear about your experience working alongside Samuel L. Jackson because I think it’s difficult for people to think of these two characters as separate from each other.

SMULDERS: Working with Sam is really a gift, and, certainly, we’ve gotten to spend a lot of time together, but he’s also just a really giving, present person. Going back to what I was saying about the stakes conversation, some of my favorite moments with Sam were like, “OK, so, how are we here? What has transpired?” I remember a very long conversation we had at the beginning of Spider-Man: Far From Home because we kind of opened that movie driving in. “We Blipped out. When did we come back? And how do we get in touch with each other?”

It was so nice to have a partner who, quite honestly, had a better grasp of the story and the world. That partnership of keeping each other in the know, and just really getting to play where we don’t have to explain much to each other, is always such a wonderful thing to do with another actor in a scene where you’ve already established so much relationship that you don’t have to get through the wording of getting to know each other. You’re able just to sit in a scene and think of the stakes and think about where we’re headed. Speaking of Secret Invasion specifically, the emotions of the lack of contact that these two have had, and being able to play that, was new. Instead of “You know what I know,” it’s “You kind of told me, I knew that you were alive for a long time, and nobody else did.” That trust is already established, and because it is so established, we’re also able to say the hard things to each other.

Is this the last that we’ve seen of Maria Hill? The MCU has introduced the Multiverse, there’s a possibility for different versions, and What If…? exists…?

SMULDERS: Carly, you tell me! I don’t know. I guess anything is possible. I have no idea, I have no idea. We’ll see.

New episodes of Secret Invasion premiere every Wednesday on Disney+.