Samuel L. Jackson has become a loose cannon when it comes to revealing details about who will be appearing in the upcoming Secret Invasion series on Disney+. Only a few days ago, the MCU’s Nick Fury let slip that Martin Freeman would be making his Marvel return in the series, and now Jackson has also confirmed that Don Cheadle will also be back as James “Rhodey” Rhodes, better known as War Machine.

Don Cheadle has already made an appearance in one Disney+ show, in a very short cameo role in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which earned him an Emmy Award nomination, and his addition to the cast of Secret Invasion has already been rumored and is not entirely surprising. First, it drops in a reference to the broader Marvel world, and second, it could help set up Cheadle’s own Armor Wars series, which is coming down the line soon.

The belief that Cheadle would be appearing in the series first stemmed from his character being featured in a newspaper on the Secret Invasion set and knowing how Marvel likes to keep reminding us of characters that are still part of the bigger picture, it could have just ended with that. However, as Jackson told the Happy Sad Confused Podcast, Cheadle is very much in the series in the flesh. He said:

“Don, Don Cheadle. I got Don, that’s my golf buddy. I didn’t realize it, but til we did this thing, I was like, ‘We’ve never worked together.’ We just kinda know each other, hang out and laugh… but we’d never worked together and we finally [got to work together].”

Secret Invasion Will Be a Return to the Classic Style Marvel Adventure of the Big Screen

While there are a lot of experimental formats being rolled out with Marvel’s Disney+ TV shows, from straight-up comedy to animation, Secret Invasion looks set to be a regular Marvel action-fest. Having originally been part of Marvel’s slate as a movie, the decision to develop Secret Invasion as a TV show instead was clearly spurred on by the arrival of the Disney+ platform. It is probably for that reason that the show seems to be following a tried and tested route rather than something more “out there” like WandaVision or the upcoming legal comedy of She-Hulk.

The series sees Samuel L. Jackson getting his first leading role in the MCU, having always played second fiddle to one or more Avenger in the past. Along for the ride will be returnees Cobie Smulders and Ben Mendelsohn as Maria Hill and Skrull Talos, respectively, and of course, we now know the cast will also feature Martin Freeman and Don Cheadle. Joining the regulars is Emilia Clarke, making her debut in the franchise, although she has hinted that she would love it to become as longstanding a role as her Game of Thrones stint.

There is currently no premiere date for Secret Invasion, and although there have been hints that it could drop this year, with filming still ongoing, it is more likely that it will arrive sometime in early 2023.