PaleyFest 2014: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. stars Clark Gregg, Ming-Na Wen, Brett Dalton, Chloe Bennett, Elizabeth Henstridge, Iain De Caestecker, as well as executive producers Jed Whedon, Maurissa Tancharoen, Jeph Loeb, and Jeffrey Bell attended PaleyFest on Sunday, March 23rd in a panel moderated by Felicia Day (The Guild). In addition to giving the Paley audience an early viewing of their next episode, “End of the Beginning,” the cast and creators talked about their experiences working on the show, their own theories on where the show is going, and about connections to Marvel’s next film Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

According to some of the cast, the actors on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. are as in the dark on future plot points as the audience is. During the discussion, directing her motions to the executive producers, Ming-Na Wen, who plays Agent May, stated, “they know stuff that we try to get out of them and they won’t tell us until we get the next script.” In addition to this statement, Clark Gregg, who plays Coulson, implied he had no idea his character would be resurrected following the events in The Avengers.

Chloe Bennett, who plays Skye, has even done her own online research to try and figure out what her character might be or might become considering she is an 0-8-4, S.H.I.E.L.D.’s name for something of unknown origin. She even shrugged and stated that maybe the miracle drug given to Skye in “T.A.H.I.T.I.” was “Kree” related. Many fans online have predicted that the blue alien discovered in that episode was actually a Kree and that race of aliens was even name-dropped in the following episode “Yes Men” by Jaimie Alexander’s Lady Sif herself. So, maybe her theory is correct.

As far as movie tie-ins go, executive producer Jeph Loeb implied that an upcoming episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will tie-in to Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Referring back to when Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. drew connections to Thor: The Dark World with the episodes “The Well” and “Yes Men”, Loeb stated, “It would not surprise anyone if things that happen in [The Winter Soldier] are in the show . . . I wouldn’t miss it if I were you.” That episode will air on April 8th, 4 days after the theatrical release of The Winter Soldier.

In addition to news on their upcoming movie tie-in, the creators also reassured fans that Bill Paxton will again return as Agent Garrett and actor/comedian Patton Oswalt will appear as well. As of right now a second season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has not been confirmed but executive producer Jeffrey Bell optimistically implied “We know where we want seasons two and three to end.”

Overall, a lot of laughs were shared amongst the cast and creators during their PaleyFest panel. One funny highlight was when Ming-Na Wen jokingly said she hopes to find out Skye is the love-child of May and Thor. To this Clark Gregg countered that he thought there should be something between Coulson and Lady Sif.

Some other funny moments were when Clark Gregg jokingly implied he was behind the #CoulsonLives campaign on Twitter, Brett Dalton stated that the “lone wolf” Agent Ward has “learned to play with a team” in regards to Ward’s relationship with May, and Maurissa Tancharoen revealing that Agent May was originally going to be called Agent Rice until they hired Ming-Na Wen in the role. In addition to this, actors Iain De Caestecker and Elizabeth Henstridge, who play Fitz and Simmons, stated that they are playing their characters as if they were brother and sister, shooting down anyone’s theory about the two of them hooking up.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. returns on April 1, 2014 with the episode “End of the Beginning” at 8PM ET on ABC. The show will run for 7 straight weeks before its next break. Check out some photos from the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. PaleyFest 2014 panel below

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Photos courtesy of Michael Bulbenko for Paley Center for Media.