It was announced recently that Emilia Clarke will be joining the MCU for the upcoming TV show based on the Secret Invasion miniseries. And although her role has yet to be disclosed, a new rumor has her playing Abigail Brand.
You may be unfamiliar with the character, as she’s a relatively new addition to the Marvel canon, having debuted in September 2004. She stands out in a crowd, though, due to her distinctive bright green hair, a natural hue resulting from her father being of an as-yet unspecified alien race, as well as similarly colored eyes usually hidden by tinted sunglasses. She’s also a mutant with pyrokinetic abilities, in addition to being a formidable fighter and physically durable enough to survive a blast to the chest from a laser cannon.
She’s depicted as the commander of S.W.O.R.D., which in the comics is not just the weapons research division seen in WandaVision but a global counterterrorism agency tasked with defending Earth from extraterrestrial threats. With the series’ danger coming from the stars, it’s most likely the organization’s remit will be greatly expanded, meaning its overall leader will be a prominent character.
Although Clarke doesn’t have the most distinctive back catalogue beyond her star-making turn in Game of Thrones, you may dimly recall that she played Sarah Connor in the forgettable Terminator Genisys, with her portrayal of the iconic character as an uncompromising badass being not entirely removed from how Brand will likely be depicted.
Of course, this intel comes from an anonymous and unconfirmed insider leak, but that doesn’t change the fact that Emilia Clarke as the S.W.O.R.D. leader would actually be a pretty good piece of casting. And if it does turn out that this is who she’ll play in Secret Invasion, it’ll be well worth checking out.
