Shioli Katsuna on Mitsuki’s ‘Invasion’ season 3 journey and her cool Apex Alien connection (exclusive)

By
Jeff Spry

published

17 October 2025

‘Building that was a very careful and sensitive process because I had to imagine everything’

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Shioli Katsuna with an apex alien in “Invasion” Season 3
(Image credit: Apple TV)

Apple TV’s “Invasion” Season 3 drops its penultimate episode on Friday, Oct. 17, and fans are on the edge of their sofas primed to get a glimpse of what’s inside that ginormous derelict mothership as our group of reluctant heroes crosses over into the Dead Zone.

It’s been a sensational third outing for this sci-fi drama conceived by Oscar-winning producer Simon Kinberg (“Deadpool,” “The X-Men Films”) and his partner David Weil (“Citadel”), and there’s been an enormous influx of new viewers hooked on its alien encounters.

Actress Shioli Katsuna’s Mitsuki Yamato has been one of the core characters throughout the entire series, and as we discovered last week in the episode titled “Life in the Dead Zone,” she’s now formed a remarkable bond with one of the spider-legged extraterrestrial apex aliens that we can’t wait to see evolve.

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Apex aliens aid an injured creature in “Invasion” Season 3 (Image credit: Apple TV)

“I got to do that episode with the director Alik Sakharov, who I’ve been with since season two, and I have the most trust with him,” Katsuna tells Space.com.

“So I was very excited entering that episode because I knew I was in good hands. I do meet up with other characters in the episode, like the Infinitas, and have interactions with other people, but it was mostly a lot of scenes where it was non-verbal. It’s so much content with the alien, and I have an arc with it without any lines. Building that was a very careful and sensitive process because I had to imagine everything.”

Katsuna did have the benefit of a performance capture artist on set to act against and to set correct eyelines for a more authentic, emotional delivery that comes across as perfectly organic.

“We had this amazing actor who specializes in playing aliens and other creatures named Keith [Arbuthnot]. Keith is a genius, and the people in props made him this suit to make him tall. He loves do-it-yourself, and he’d bring in all these tools that he made to help me out. Without Keith, that episode would not have been possible. It was a lot of preparation as well to really be able to find what she was going through in that episode.”

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Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.Shioli Katsuna stars in Apple TV’s “Invasion” Season 3 (Image credit: Apple TV)

Besides the role of Mitsuki being one that’s more physically and mentally demanding this year, Katsuna considers the unique elements of “Invasion” that make the project so special for fans.

“I think it’s a very character-driven show. If anything, we have many more aliens in this season,” she adds. “In the first season, it was only like an episode or two with the aliens. It’s really focusing on these individual characters from different countries, ethnicities, and ages. With our show, obviously, it’s an alien invasion, but we all experienced something similar during COVID and perhaps the strike, and it’s truly what humans go through emotionally when there’s something you have no control over. It’s ultimately about human connections and trying to survive together.

“For me personally, Mitsuki is kind of on a different journey. For her, it’s not so much about the human connection yet. It’s about connecting with a different entity and having an awakening, and connecting to a realm on a very different frequency. That’s something I experienced during these past two years. It’s almost like my personal life and Mitsuki were kind of on a parallel journey, so it meant more and brought out a real immersion within me.”

“Invasion” Season 3 streams exclusively on Apple TV and airs its penultimate chapter, “Homecoming,” on Oct. 17, 2025, with the season finale, “The End of the Line,” landing Oct. 24.

Watch Invasion on Apple TV:
All three seasons of the excellent alien invasion thriller are on the streaming service, along with other hit sci-fi shows like Severance, For All Mankind, Foundation, and Silo. It’s low-key the best streaming service for sci-fi these days.

Apple TV costs $12.99 per month, but there is also a free 7-day trial for new members who want to check out the service without committing.

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Jeff SprySocial Links Navigation Contributing Writer

Jeff Spry is an award-winning screenwriter and veteran freelance journalist covering TV, movies, video games, books, and comics. His work has appeared at SYFY Wire, Inverse, Collider, Bleeding Cool and elsewhere. Jeff lives in beautiful Bend, Oregon amid the ponderosa pines, classic muscle cars, a crypt of collector horror comics, and two loyal English Setters.

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‘The threat has evolved’: Humanity faces the ultimate apex aliens in stunning new ‘Invasion’ season 3 trailer (video)

Shioli Katsuna on Mitsuki's 'Invasion' season 3 journey and her cool Apex Alien connection (exclusive)

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