Emilia Clarke is like the franchise queen right now.
During her time as Khaleesi, Mother of Dragons, Queen Daenerys Targaryen, on Game of Thrones, she also jumped into other franchises at the same time. She joined the Terminator franchise with Terminator Genisys and later, Star Wars, after starring in Solo: A Star Wars Story.
But that's what actors do nowadays. When a star's popularity skyrockets, every studio or franchise tries to stake its claim on them at some point. Now Clarke will be joining her fourth franchise, the MCU, but it wasn't without reluctance.
Clarke is hardly the first actor to be hesitant about joining one of the biggest franchises in the world. But she talked to her Game of Thrones co-star, Kit Harrington about it, and he reassured her about the idea. Now they'll be amongst other beloved actors entering the MCU this year, as Harrington stars in Eternals and Clarke in Secret Invasion.
Clarke's always spoken candidly about her career, so, of course, she told us about her decision to join the MCU. Here's why she was hesitant to join and what Harrington said to convince her.
Who Will Clarke Play?
The MCU has already entered into its much anticipated and promising Phase 4 with successful series like WandaVision, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, and Loki, along with its first film, Black Widow. But fans are thirsty for more.
They'll get more when Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Eternals, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and a couple of other maybes premiere this year.
But, of course, Marvel's keeping us intrigued, as it always does, by announcing projects way in advance, and that includes Secret Invasion. The project doesn't appear on any Phase 4 lists, which ends any time after 2023, so we're probably looking at a release date in the very distant future, possibly even in Phase 5.
According to the Nerdist, Secret Invasion will be loosely based on the eight-part comic books series of the same name. It's tied to other Marvel Comics series and follows superhero teams Mighty Avengers, New Avengers, Young Avengers, Fantastic Four, Secret Warriors, etc. The series will be six parts and will obviously premiere weekly on Disney+.
If the comics are anything to go on, the series will likely involve the Skrulls trying to take over Earth by infiltrating key superhero teams using their shapeshifting abilities. It's too soon to say who Clarke will play exactly, but some fans are under the impression that she might play Skrull Empress-elect Veranke. Others think she may play Abigail Brand, the head of S.W.O.R.D.
Clarke will also join Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn as Talos, Oscar winner Olivia Colman, Kingsley Ben-Adir, and Christopher McDonald.
She Doesn't Really Know Why It Took So Long For Her To Join The MCU
Obviously, joining the MCU is a big career decision. Depending on the role, actors have to decide whether they want to sign away multiple years of their lives. But according to Showbiz Cheat Sheet, the decision to audition for the franchise never even crossed her mind to begin with.
"This is my first brush [auditioning] with Marvel. I feel like there was the whole time I was with Game of Thrones; one would imagine that this is me guessing…[Marvel Studios] didn’t want to take someone that’s in the middle of a massive franchise out of respect, or they just thought I was crap until now," Clarke laughed.
Even though she's an A-list actress now, Clarke still had to audition. She told Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast that every actor, no matter if they're Robert Downey Jr. or Kat Dennings, has to tape their Marvel audition and send it in.
"I’m never going to be the actor that goes 'I don’t tape.' Yes. The first people I spoke to with Marvel after getting the role was their security team,' Clarke explained. 'I actually live in fear that something is going to happen, and I’m going to say something, and they’ll get upset. But, I play a character that I’m super into everything about it."
But before she sent her audition tape in, Clarke revealed that she spoke to her Game of Thrones co-star Kit Harington for advice. He'd recently entered into the franchise, too, after successfully nailing his audition for Dane Whitman/Black Knight in Eternals, which will also star another GoT alum, Richard Madden.
"I haven’t spoken to him [Harington] since getting [Secret Invasion]. All I know is that he had a fabulous experience; I spoke to him a bunch when he was doing it and got back from it. He just loved it," Clarke said.
Clarke told The Hollywood Reporter that she's had a marvelous experience so far, and if they want her for the next decade of her life, she's down.
"Everyone I know and everyone I’ve spoken to who is a part of the Marvel universe — and actors talk! Everyone has only the highest praise to offer," Clarke said. "There’s a reason why actors stay in it. They’re so loved because they’re having loads of fun. So I’m down for that. Sure!"
Speaking to ComicBook.com, Clarke praised Marvel for being "so on the cutting edge" and described them as "the Apple of this world." She also said that being a part of the Marvel family is like being "in the cool kid crowd" and that the people working on the series "are what pushed [her] over the line to really wanting to do it."
So it seems like Clarke is delighted that she listened to Jon Snow and auditioned. She'll likely approach the series with just as much heart and charisma that she brought to the table playing Khaleesi. That's Clarke for you; bubbly about everything she does, even if it means playing the villain.