Dermot Mulroney Teases Secret Invasion Prez's Revenge Quest, Reveals 'Deep Cut' Past TV Role Quentin Tarantino 'Loved'
Kicking off the back half of its six-episode season, Disney+'s Secret Invasion put POTUS squarely in the crosshairs, as Gravik and his men posed as Russians to brutally ambush a presidential motorcade.
Luckily, Fury (played by Samuel L. Jackson) had planted a location tracer on Skrull "Rhodey" (Don Cheadle), so he and Talos (Ben Mendelsohn) were able to race to the scene in time to help rebuff the attack. In the end, Talos wound up slain at Gravik's hand, but not before he was able to help bust a bulletproof window that allowed Fury to spirit away President Ritson in the aftermath.
TVLine spoke with Ritson's portrayer, Dermot Mulroney, about the Marvel series' upcoming final two episodes, and the past TV roles he wishes had lasted longer.
In this midseason thriller, is Dermot Mulroney playing Roger Bart...?
Visually, very much so. Like, it's totally distracting. And like Bart's Desperate Housewives pharmacist, Mulroney's character — a nerdy chaperone whose daughter is among the highly privileged D.C. kids kidnapped mid-field trip — has a few tricks up his sleeve. "You wouldn't expect me to get much done in terms of solving this crisis," the actor shared at Upfronts. "But by the end of the [pilot], you realize there may be a chance for me to help."
TVLINE | The last time you and I spoke was for... NBC's Crisis. [In the one-and-done series, Mulroney starred as a disgruntled CIA analyst who orchestrated the kidnapping of a school bus filled with the D.C. elite's progeny.] Deep cut, right?
Crisis! That is a deep cut, in a number of ways. The essential [Crisis anecdote] is that I was stopped after that 13-episode run by Quentin Tarantino. And he said [Doing Tarantino voice], "I watched them allll, man. I loved that Crisis thing. I especially liked it when he shot that kid in the spine!" Can you imagine Quentin Tarantino watching that? So weird.
TVLINE | Is this the first President of the United States you've played?
No, I played the president on one other show, Messiah, for Netflix. That was with Michele Monaghan, and a massive global story, too.
TVLINE | Were you given any notes on what sort of a person Ritson is, his character?
I worked directly with an incredible director, Ali Selim [who directed all Secret Invasion episodes], and he told me everything I needed to know. But I only learned today that President Ritson was mentioned in [the MCU film Black Panther:] Wakanda Forever. He existed prior to when he arrived on-camera, so that's cool that they had this nebulous idea of a president, and then they put me in that role.
TVLINE | In the latest episode, Ritson was unconscious for most of the ambush, so he didn't see Gravik use his powers, he didn't see Talos in Skrull form.... How careful should Fury be about giving him a major download as they peel away?
Well, the action continues to speed up, so I don't even know if there's time [for a full debrief]. And sometimes that's one of best fixes in an action movie, to quickly move to the next thing.
TVLINE | Is Ritson alarmed to find himself saved by Fury, who's persona non grata these days?
At the beginning of this [series] I was expecting him to deliver on the biggest missile system, and relying on his return [to Earth], and this flurry of events throws them back together. But you're right, I don't even know that Talos is the one [who saved me], because there was that wonderful obfuscation there at the car window.
[After the ambush, Ritson] is in recovery mode... and then revenge mode. I mean, I don't want to give too much away but he doesn't like this attack at all. So any conciliatory vibe that he might have had — "Maybe we can all live together if we just control this radical splinter group" — boom, they blow him up and now he's like, "Nuh-uh." He doesn't get that much screen time, but he does have his say in the end.
TVLINE | How might Ritson react upon learning that Rhodey, his righthand man, is a Skrull?
I think Yoda said it best — "...anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering." Yeah, President Ritson is triggered by that to go extreme. If he can't trust good ol' James Rhodes, who can he trust? That's really the divide for Ritson.
TVLINE | Without spoiling anything, can you give us a flavor for the July 26 finale?
To be truthful, I haven't seen it. And I haven't even read all of the pages because I only ever saw the ones that had Ritson on it. I know what the elements are going to be, so I guess you could safely say you can expect one of those sequences where each of the storylines are culminating and they're cutting back and forth, Godfather-style. They're all coming to a climax. But again, I didn't see all of the pages!
TVLINE | Lastly, which two past TV roles of yours do you wish had lasted longer?
Well, New Girl was extremely popular! I was on during their first season when it was most popular [as Russell Schiller, the "fancy man" father of one of Jess' students]. And then they had me come in for Season 2.
Season 3, I was like, "Hey, bring Russell back, the fancy man!" "No, no." Season 4, my agent calls [the producers], "What about Dermot? He really liked working with you." "No, not seeing anything." So he stopped calling. Three years later, the phone rings: "Hi, it's New Girl, we need him for two episodes in the final season." It was charming that they needed Russell to cause one last point of friction. But I would have played through that show the whole time! Great, hilarious comedians.
TVLINE | And the second role...? Crisis, if only to make Tarantino happy?
[Laughs] To make Quentin Tarantino happy! It's his favorite short-lived network television show from the year 2014. That was a wonderful character to me, one of my first evil guys. And he was very unassuming, wearing that sweater vest. And it's not that [Crisis] didn't conclude, but it definitely had more room to continue unspooling that incredible story where I kidnap my own daughter's [school] bus to win her back!
Note: This interview took place before SAG-AFTRA officially announced a strike on July 13.