agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Ever since Nick Fury first approached Tony Stark about the Avengers Initiative, we have been introduced to more and more of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes on the big screen. As the Marvel Cinematic Universe continued to grow over the years, it has come to include the characters from short films, comic books, and TV shows across various networks. And though it may not always be obvious, True Believers have constantly been told that it’s all connected. Now with a new season of ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ beginning this week, the showrunners are weighing in on just how connected to Agent Phil Coulson and his team will be to the major events happening in the House of Ideas’ blockbuster films.

While attending a recent press event in Los Angeles, Comic Book Resources spoke with executive producers Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen about the direction that the show will be taking during their upcoming fifth season. For starters, Whedon tells us that they’re taking a page from this year’s more cosmic-focused features ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2’ and ‘Thor: Ragnarok’:

“We try to a little bit follow in the wake of the films as they plot new territory in the MCU. Last year that was magic, with ‘Doctor Strange’. We felt like Ghost Rider all of a sudden fit into our show in a way that we didn’t necessarily feel like he would have before, tonally. And this is us expanding out even further into the world of space which they very much are living in now in the features. It’s the great unknown, and we hadn’t explored it yet.”

With the agents heading to space, does that mean that we’ll have crossovers similar to the ones that saw Lady Sif or the Hellicarrirer appear on the show? Whedon went on to say that the connections may not be as apparent as previous tie-ins:

“It’s a thematic tie [to the movies]. We try to make it feel like that the whole thing is moving in this swelling direction. We’re not in space for no reason. We wouldn’t have gone there if they hadn’t. The overt ties were a necessity of starting out, but those have faded over time, basically because we have our own mythology. That started to be much more interesting to us, and hopefully to the audience, just digging that stuff up. No one wants to come to see our show to see another show. Now they want to see our show, which, yay.”

Finally, Tancharoen shared some insight into their process of crafting each season, each of which has seen some a great deal of evolution from the one before it:

“Every year we reset the series, and this year we definitely knew that it would be the most giant reset to date. Just creatively across the board for everyone, art direction, all of it, our sets, you’ll see an overhaul.”

New beginnings are always exciting and with space being so unpredictable, who knows where the team could end up? Luckily, we don’t have to wait very long to dive right in as season five kicks off with a special two-hour season premiere tonight at 8:00pm on ABC. So after you check it out, be sure to let us know where you think ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ is headed next in the comments below.