Secret Invasion director Ali Selim explained why less is more with the Marvel Cinematic Universe miniseries as the show's episodes gradually shortened throughout the season.
Speaking with Variety, Selim said the shorter episodes were a part of his "practical evolution" of the show and its story, with Episode 6, "Home" clocking in at less than 40 minutes to round out the Disney+ series, diverting from the typical jam-packed show closer. "It's really just practical exploration and the practical evolution of a story," Selim said. "It's written one way; actors start performing it, and it becomes something slightly different; and when you start filming the performances, it becomes something slightly different; and then when you go to edit it, you realign yourself."
The first two episodes of Secret Invasion, "Resurrection" and "Promises," last 55 and 58 minutes respectively. From there, episode lengths got considerably shorter as Episodes 3-5, "Betrayed," "Beloved" and "Harvest" went 44, 38 and 39 minutes respectively before "Home" clocked in 38 minutes. According to Selim, he wanted a certain fluidity to the episodes and didn't want any fluff to overshadow the overarching narrative the show told. "I don't mean to make it practical film school stuff, but ultimately, you just watch the cuts, and you say, 'That's too long. That’s unfocused. Looked good on the page, sounded good on the set, not helping our story at this point.' And there's also some sense of ramping up to an explosive ending — which to my mind means you go faster, not bigger and bloatier," he said.
Marvel's Secret Invasion Series
Secret Invasion is based on the Marvel Comics crossover event of the same name, chronicling the Skrull invasion of Earth as the shapeshifting alien race assumes the identities of several high-ranking officials to make their presence felt. Selim ignored Marvel's warnings not to read the source material when he took the job, though the series deviated from the comic book event on several fronts.
Between the differences from the comic books, the AI-generated credits and pacing issues, Secret Invasion's story ultimately fell flat with fans as the show attracted an unwanted record with the lowest-ever critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes for an MCU show on Disney+ at 58%. Additionally, each of Secret Invasion's six episodes occupies Rotten Tomatoes' top four lowest-rated single episodes for a Disney+ MCU show, with "Home" earning a paltry 11% rating.
Secret Invasion stars Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, with Jackson also serving as executive producer. Events of the miniseries, which also features Emilia Clarke, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Ben Mendelsohn and Don Cheadle, lead into the upcoming Captain Marvel sequel, The Marvels. The show chronicles Fury's struggles with age and tragedy while also showing the ruthlessness of Gravik (Ben-Adir) as he leads his radicalized Skrull sect's takeover of Earth.
All six Secret Invasion episodes are available on Disney+ while the first three episodes can be streamed for a limited time via Hulu.
Source: Variety