Cobie Smulders may not be one of the names that come instantly to mind when asked to name important people in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but the actress has appeared in several key movies of the interconnected saga as former S.H.I.E.L.D agent Maria Hill. Now, it looks like she will be reprising the role once again alongside Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury in Marvel’s Secret Invasion. According to Deadline, the actress will once again be protecting the Earth from whatever threats come its way in the Disney+ series which is currently filming for an expected late 2022 release.

Smulders has been one of the long-standing supporting characters in the MCU since making her first major appearance in The Avengers. As well as appearing in all subsequent Avengers movies, she has also played Maria Hill in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Spider-Man: Far From Home and is set to appear in both Secret Invasion and the Captain Marvel sequel The Marvels. She also made three appearances in the now mostly retconned Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. series.

The arrival of Cobie Smulders in Secret Invasion shouldn’t be too much of a surprise to long term MCU fans considering she had pretty much been part of every main storyline that Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury has been involved in and in the grand scheme of things, this one is pretty much the biggest so far for Fury’s character. The show revolves around the infiltration of Earth by the race known as the Skrulls, who were fully introduced in Captain Marvel. In the post-credit scene of Spider-Man: Far From Home, it was revealed that the version of Fury and Hill who had been interacting with Peter Parker had in fact been Skrulls in disguise all along, setting up the upcoming series.

Obviously, had it not been for Covid-19 delays, then we would possibly have already seen Secret Invasion before now, or certainly a little earlier than we will be getting it at the least. As it stands, we currently know virtually nothing about how the series will pan out, and as it is Marvel we really don’t expect anything else. So far there are a number of castings known, comprising of Ben Mendelsohn returning to reprise his role as Skrull Talos, as well as The Crown's Olivia Colman, Game of Thrones' Emilia Clarke, High Fidelity's Kingsley Ben-Adir, American Crime Story's Christopher McDonald, and Dublin Murders' Killian Scott.

On joining the MCU, Emilia Clarke shared her excitement to be taking on a new challenge and her hopes for a future as long as her Game of Thrones career. "I mean, I should be so lucky is what I'll say to that," Clark told THR in June. "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. 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."

The six-episode series of Secret Invasion is expected to premiere on Disney+ sometime next year. This news was first reported by Deadline.