The final season of “Agents of SHIELD” begins in 1931 New York, a decade before Steve Rogers would become Captain America. But don’t expect them to stay there for long.
The swan song for the first TV series set inside the Marvel Cinematic Universe will be a trek through its history. “I was so excited to basically get to go into a different decade every week,” star Chloe Bennet told TheWrap. “I never thought as a half-Asian, that I would ever get cast in any sort of period piece, because usually it’s white people.”
Throughout its run, “Agents of SHIELD” has been largely on the outskirts of the MCU (more on that here), but the final run provides a chance to remind viewers that Quake, Mac and the rest of the team have existed in the same universe as Tony Stark and Bruce Banner this whole time: A trip through the MCU’s history.
“I think fans that have been watching the show will feel really rewarded by it,” Bennet adds. “There are so many subtle nods to certain things throughout the show that unfold throughout each decade and each time period.”
“SHIELD” will get at least one surprising visitor in Enver Gjokaj’s Daniel Sousa from fellow MCU-spinoff “Agent Carter.”
“It really feels like all the boundaries has been pushed and broken,” says Elizabeth Henstridge. “We were given this amazing playpen to just go crazy.”
Just as the series began in 2013 with the resurrection of a seemingly-dead Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg), who died in 2012’s “The Avengers,” “SHIELD” starts its final season with another resurrection of everyone’s favorite S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. Only this time, the real Phil Coulson is still dead. This time, he returns as a Life Model Decoy (Marvel-speak for a really advanced android).
While ramifications of bringing back Coulson in LMD form — especially considering the sketchy history of LMDs in “SHIELD” — will be felt throughout the season, Bennet says that Daisy is just happy to have “her buddy back.” Even if it’s a robot version of him.
“I think she just kind of quickly adapts to the fact that it’s just Coulson,” she says. “It’s weird, but also I think trying to be supportive with him. Coulson goes through kind of an existential, very classic ‘robot-in-movies-situation,’ where you’re like, ‘Who am I? What am I? Am I real? What does being alive mean?’”
Though Daisy was one to push the button that “activated” LMD Coulson, it was Gemma (Henstridge) that plotted to create the LMD version of her former boss, arguing it was necessary because the Chronicoms were trying to wipe out S.H.I.E.L.D. from the history books. Who better to know the history of the organization than one of its biggest champions?
“It was her impetus to take on that as an idea of a possible solution,” Henstridge says. “There’s a heavy weight that comes with throwing that up as an option. And I think she’s always been fairly ruthless in terms of what she is willing to do for what she sees as a greater good, what she feels is worth it. But it’s a really difficult thing to navigate to bring somebody back to life essentially without their consent.”
“Agents of SHIELD” returns for its seventh and final season Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.