Ahead of her MCU debut in Secret Invasion, newcomer Emilia Clarke pulled back the curtain on her Disney+ character, G'iah.
Clarke made waves through the MCU fandom with the announcement that she'd join the Marvel saga following her years of leading the way on HBO's Game of Thrones.
Ahead of Secret Invasion's arrival, Clarke was confirmed to be playing a legacy character in G'iah, the Skrull leader Talos' daughter, who was first seen as a young child in 2019's Captain Marvel.
But with the secrecy that still surrounds Marvel and its upcoming projects, Clarke has been extra careful to avoid spoiling anything about the part she plays.
Emilia Clarke Shares Details on Marvel Role
Speaking in the latest issue of Empire Magazine, Emilia Clarke unveiled details about her role as G'iah in Marvel Studios' Secret Invasion.
Clarke highlighted "[exploring] political ideas" in a world where fans' individual experience doesn't come into play as much, with her character opening the door for fans to see a perspective that "straddles both the human and the Skrull side of things:"
"I think the joy of getting to explore political ideas in a high-concept world is that you get the space to see the problem as a whole. You're not triggered by your own individual experience because, let's face it, you're watching aliens. I think through G'iah you see the quandary the Skrulls are in. She allows the audience to have a point of view that straddles both the human and the Skrull side of things."
She even teased the similarities between the Skrulls and the Targaryens from Game of Thrones, noting that the "lineage" and "expectations" give G'iah a lot to live up to, the way Daenerys Targaryen did on HBO for eight years.
In an interview with Total Film, Secret Invasion producer Jonathan Schwartz hinted at how Clarke's now-grown-up G'iah will have an "interesting" arc due to the Skrulls' struggles and unkept promises:
"G’iah was there to witness Fury and Carol making that promise to the Skrulls, and, decades on, we’re going to meet her grown-up self and see what the lack of follow-through on that promise has meant to her... It’s spun her in an interesting way and in an especially interesting way in comparison to her father, Talos."
Clarke also celebrated her time working with Talos star Ben Mendelsohn, which always focused on "the minutiae of being a daughter." Although their relationship is far from the only one that adds to the show's "grounded" nature:
"Whenever I got to do scenes with Ben, it was right back down to the minutiae of being a daughter. I felt like my character got to be at her most honest with him, be it sulky teenage or otherwise. It's not just mine and Ben's relationship; there are a number of relationships in the show that allow it to be truly grounded."
How Will Emilia Clarke's MCU Role Evolve?
Thanks to a number of set photos and videos showing Emilia Clarke in action, there's no doubt that she's going to play a pivotal role in the MCU's take on the Skrull invasion.
And with Clarke also making her way into a recent round of promotional imagery alongside MCU mainstays Samuel L. Jackson and Ben Mendelsohn, Marvel sees her as a key part of the growing ground-level narrative.
The Game of Thrones star hasn't been shy in hyping her own excitement to play this character as an adult in the MCU for the first time, taking her experience from one of TV's biggest hit shows and joining the most successful movie franchise in history.
And with plenty of secrets still waiting to be revealed surrounding how she fits into the story, her journey will be one to follow closely with fans wondering who in the MCU could be something different from what they seem.
Secret Invasion will debut on Disney+ on June 21.
