A highly anticipated Marvel TV show has definitely been pushed back into 2023, according to a new report.
Per TVLine, Secret Invasion – a Marvel Disney Plus show that was supposed to launch this year – won't arrive on the streaming service until next year. TVLine claims that the series, which stars Samuel L Jackson's Nick Fury among others, will debut sometime in 2023, meaning it'll arrive alongside Loki season 2 and three other TV shows next year.
Secret Invasion's delayed release shouldn't come as a surprise to some Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) fans. Previously, Jackson confirmed that he was heading back to the UK to film reshoots for the Disney Plus series, telling TV host Jimmy Kimmel that he'd be back in London in August.
Shooting pick-ups for movies and TV shows isn't out of the ordinary these days, particularly in the aftermath of the pandemic. However, Marvel leakers, such as DanielRPK (via Les Dossiers Geek) and Greatphase, have claimed Secret Invasion's reshoots will form part of a four-month long shoot alongside The Marvels, one of Marvel's 2023 movie offerings.
So Secret Invasion won't be ready to launch before 2022 ends. It will, though, likely be ready for release sometime early next year, enabling it to kick off Marvel Studios' 2023 slate. We've reached out to Disney for comment and will update this article if we hear back.
Secret Invasion is one of four Marvel TV shows in production right now, with the aforementioned second season of Loki also being filmed in London. Meanwhile, principal photography has begun on another MCU Phase 4 TV series in Echo, while full production is set to start on Ironheart's Disney Plus show in August.
That quartet won't be the only Marvel Studios projects that might arrive in 2023. Three MCU movies – Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and The Marvels – are set to land exclusively in theaters in February, May, and July 2023 respectively. Check out our Marvel movies in order guide for more details on how that trio fits into the MCU timeline.
Analysis: why is Secret Invasion undergoing reshoots?
Potential spoilers – and scene descriptions of a distressing nature – for Secret Invasion follow. Turn back now if you're reluctant to read about both.
Unsurprisingly, Secret Invasion is undergoing reshoots to allow its narrative to flow seamlessly during (and between) episodes.
However, there's a far more serious reason as to why parts of the MCU TV show are being reshot: Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
According to Marvel insider DanielRPK (as picked up by Reddit), Secret Invasion's story currently contains a sequence that hits a bit too close to home with real-world events. The scene reportedly comprises an attack by some Skrulls, who are masquerading as Russian soldiers, co-ordinate a terrorist attack in Moscow's Red Square, which results in the death of some Ukrainian nationals.
Understandably, given events playing out in Ukraine right now, Marvel has elected to reshoot this scene (and any of a similar nature). Clearly, that's the right call for the studio to have made, too, in light of the ongoing war. Marvel cut a potentially pandemic-related storyline from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier before that show arrived in May 2020 – five months after Covid-19 was initially discovered – so the studio has previous form for rightly removing sensitive content from its productions.
We're sure every MCU fan is prepared to wait for Secret Invasion's arrival if it means these scenes are dialled back, altered, or removed entirely. In the grand scheme of things, delaying a Marvel TV series is small fry compared to what's going on in Ukraine.
For more information on how to make a donation towards the global Ukraine Crisis Relief Fund, head to the project's official Global Giving fundraising page. Alternatively, read Global Citizen's guide on 30 ways you can help Ukraine's citizens.
