‘Invasion’ Season 2 Interview: Simon Kinberg

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Shioli Kutsuna in ‘Invasion’ season 2, now streaming on Apple TV+.

Premiering its final episode of its second season on Apple TV+ October 25th is the popular sci-fi series ‘Invasion,’ which was created by Simon Kinberg (‘Dark Phoenix’), who also wrote the episode, and David Well (‘Hunters’).

Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with series creator Simon Kinberg about the season 2 finale of ‘Invasion,’ telling a different alien invasion story, the scope of the series, working with the new season 2 directors, and as a producer on ‘Deadpool’ and ‘Logan,’ how he feels about Hugh Jackman reprising his role as Wolverine opposite Ryan Reynolds in the MCU’s ‘Deadpool 3.’

‘Invasion’ series creator Simon Kinberg.

Moviefone: To begin with, what would you say to fans of the show to tease them about the season 2 finale, and will it act as a satisfying ending to the overall story or will there be a cliffhanger for a possible season 3?

Simon Kinberg: I think what people can expect from the last episode is certainly bigger action than they’ve seen so far in season two. There’s been a lot of action in season two, obviously a lot more than there was in season one. But really it culminates in episode 9 and gets massive in episode 10. The other thing I would say about the last episode is, in many ways, the first two seasons have been obviously about these different characters from all over the world, but they’ve been slowly coming together in terms of their storylines over now 19 episodes and going into 20. The last episode brings them together in some surprising ways, and you see in some ways why we chose these particular stories to tell. It wasn’t completely random. I hope that the end of episode 10 is satisfying to people because it’s got a big battle and it has a measure of closure to it. But like all of my favorite television and certainly my favorite science fiction and mystery television, there’s still whole worlds to unfold beyond this season.

Azhy Robertson and Golshifteh Farahani in ‘Invasion’ season 2, now streaming on Apple TV+.

MF: Can you talk about developing the series and what you wanted to do differently with the alien invasion concept?

SK: In general, from the beginning, what I felt was missing from the alien invasion genre was a truly global perspective, that it was often or always told from the perspective of one character and that character was usually American. If it was an ensemble, they were all Americans, like in ‘Independence Day.’ So if the whole planet came under attack, America’s not the only place that’s dealing with the problem, everywhere is and I wanted to see what the different reactions from different types of characters in different types of societies would be. That was the thing that was the spark of inspiration for me, and if you were to do a mashup of ‘War of the Worlds’ with a movie like ‘Babel,’ that was the North Star from the beginning.

Shioli Kutsuna in ‘Invasion’ season 2, now streaming on Apple TV+.

MF: Can you talk about the scope of the series and the challenges of telling an international story about an alien invasion?

SK: It’s an incredibly ambitious television show, and I have to applaud and just get on my knees with gratitude to Apple. They really believed in the show from the very beginning, despite the fact that it’s not based on a huge piece of IP. It doesn’t have huge stars in it. They just believed in the concept and quality of the show, and they backed it in a way that was really extraordinary. The first season was incredibly challenging because we were filming in Tokyo, London, Morocco, New York, and other places I think I’m forgetting, but those were our main hubs, in the middle of the pandemic. So that was really a challenge unlike anything I’ve ever experienced in my career, having made some really big movies all over the world. The second season had different challenges, and I would say the biggest challenge was less about the physical production, though the production is really big, and more about the visual effects. We really amped up the aliens, the action and the world building in season two. I wanted the visual effects to feel like it was the same level quality as you’d see in big budget movies I’ve worked on in the past, like the ‘Star Wars’ movies, the ‘X-Men’ movies, those kinds of films. So designing all of that with a lot of the geniuses I’ve worked with in my feature film life, designing all of those worlds was a whole lot of fun. And trying to find new designs for aliens, motherships and things we’ve seen in lots of movies done extremely well, trying to find new versions of that. So there was a conceptual challenge and then there was the execution challenge of those visual effects.

Related Article: Director Alik Sakharov Talks Apple TV+’s ‘Invasion’ Season 2

Shamier Anderson in ‘Invasion’ season 2, now streaming on Apple TV+.

MF: As a director yourself, what has it been like for you to collaborate with other directors on this series?

SK: It’s really fun working in television with directors. It’s so different than features. With features, you’re working with one director and you’re living for years with that director telling that story. I’ve had some amazing relationships with filmmakers on films. In TV, you’re working with a director and they’re in and out, if they’re doing one episode. We had incredible filmmakers in season two. I mean, from really seasoned people, like Alik Sakharov who directed episodes of ‘The Sopranos’ and ‘Ozark’ and I mean he is truly one of the greatest television directors. No exaggeration, obviously, because those are among the greatest shows of all time. He was the DP on the pilot of ‘The Sopranos.’ I mean, the guy has seen and done everything you could possibly do in TV. I learned an immense amount from him actually about TV storytelling and production. Then we had people that were less experienced come in for an episode. So it was really fun just working with such a diverse group of people, diverse in terms of their personal experience and their professional experience.

(L to R) Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool and Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in ‘Deadpool 3.’ Photo courtesy of Ryan Reynolds Instagram account.

MF: Finally, since you were a producer on both ‘Deadpool’ and ‘Logan,’ I have to ask how you feel about Hugh Jackman returning to the role of Wolverine in ‘Deadpool 3’ and having those characters now exist in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

SK: I love Hugh so much. I mean, he’s somebody who’s really been a huge part of my life. I’ve made six or seven movies with him, even a movie outside the ‘X-Men’ universe. He’s one of the kindest, just sweetest humans, let alone movie stars, I’ve ever met. I love him as Wolverine, and it’s really hard for me to imagine another actor playing Wolverine. That’s not true for every comic book character, but I can’t imagine anyone else playing that part. So as much as I really love what we did with ‘Logan’ and really feel like we gave that character and Hugh’s journey as that character a fitting goodbye, I’m really excited to see him do it again. I’m really excited to see him do it in a different toned story. I adore Ryan and I adore what Ryan does with Deadpool, so I’m just really excited to see those two guys together.

Naian González Norvind and Shioli Kutsuna in ‘Invasion’ season 2, now streaming on Apple TV+.

‘Invasion’ Season 1 Recap

An alien invasion is seen through the different perspectives of various people on different continents across the world.

What is the plot of ‘Invasion’ season 2?

Season 2 picks up just months after the events of season 1, with the aliens escalating their attacks in an all-out war against the humans. As the aliens continue their land grab, pockets of resistance across the world join the World Defense Coalition searching for ways to destroy the enemy, including the grassroots vigilante alien hunters, The Movement, and the experiments being done at the Alien Research Facility.