Marvel Television’s flagship series, “Agents of SHIELD,” took the stage at Hall H of San Diego Comic Con this week, but with a bittersweet feeling. Mere hours before the panel, news broke that the show’s seventh season, set to air in 2020, will be the final season.
Nevertheless, 6,500 fans gathered in the Con’s largest venue to see the SHIELD team one last time. Moderated by head of Marvel Television Jeph Loeb, the panel included series show runners Jed Whedon, Maurissa Tancheroen and Jeff Bell, as well as stars Clark Gregg, Chloe Bennet, Ming-Na Wen, Iain De Caestecker, Elizabeth Henstridge, Henry Simmons, Natalia Cordova-Buckley and Jeff Ward.
The panel celebrated the show’s legacy by periodically airing clips from each of the show’s five previous seasons, highlighting the many storylines over the years. After each clip, Loeb asked the cast and creators what they remembered from each season.
Gregg began addressing the show’s first season, calling it “A magical place,” before reminiscing about the 2010 Comic Con panel in which he joined the stars of “The Avengers” onstage. “And then a few weeks later, I was dead,” Gregg quipped. “But then (Joss) Whedon said, you might not be so dead after all, and handed it off to his brother and sister-in-law to tell this story.”
After a clip from season two, Bennet addressed the famous scene in which her character, Daisy, received her earthquake inducing superpowers. “I had to go through a whole range of emotions in five seconds because when you do slow motion, you have to move fast,” Bennet said. “Those tears are tears of frustration, I hated you so much for that,” she told Whedon.
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Simmons addressed his character Mack’s rise through SHIELD’s ranks over the years. “I thought I was going to get killed off,” he said. “Right before you get killed off, the writers tell you we need to talk. I saw Jed (Whedon) and Jeff (Bell) walking towards me and ran the other way! But then they told me what was going to happen, and then I got my shotgun axe! (Crowd cheers) I said, and then I got my shotgun axe! (Cheers louder)”
Ward had a similar experience as he originally was cast as a character who died early in season five. “He came to the table read and killed it as the guy who dies in the second scene,” Gregg revealed. “When he died in the script, everyone at the table read said, ‘No!'” Bennet added.
Ward also thought his character was headed for the chopping block after Deke was caught in an explosion halfway through season five. “One of the crew members called me into his office, and there was a wall of headshots of all the characters who died on the show with Xs drawn through them and he told me, ‘You’re in good company,'” Ward recalled.
Other moments from the panel:
Wen was visibly emotional when discussing the memories of the show, saying, “We do all of this for you guys,” and actually broke into tears, wiping them off on Caestecker’s sleeve.
Whedon also had something to celebrate at the panel: His birthday. The crowd immediately broke into a chorus of “Happy Birthday to You” upon hearing the news.
Whedon and Tancheroen discussed the introduction of Gabriel Luna as Ghost Rider and also mentioned that the role led to his casting in the upcoming film “Terminator: Dark Fate” as well as a Ghost Rider series on Hulu.
Gregg recalled the dearly departed actors who have guest starred on the show, notably Bill Paxton and Ron Glass, and “Brett Dalton and DJ Doyle, who didn’t die for real, but are gone from our show.”
During a brief Q&A, an audience member asked if the six month period in which Daisy and Simmons were in space looking for Fitz will ever be shown. Whedon said that the storyline may or may not be the subject of an upcoming comic book.
Tancheroen revealed that the show is currently filming their final episode and the table read of the series finale was last Monday. “The script had tucked into it the very first call sheet from our pilot and I almost lost it,” Tancheroen said, also visibly emotional.
Stay tuned to OMFGTV for more “Agents of SHIELD” coverage from Comic Con, including interviews with the stars!
“Agents of SHIELD” airs Fridays on ABC.