The cast and crew of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. discuss the crazy consequences of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Beware of spoilers!
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. producers Maurissa Tancharoen and Jed Whedon recently spoke to USA Today about how the drastic events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier – including the dissolution of S.H.I.E.L.D. as a functioning agency – will be dealt with on the smaller scale of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
According to Whedon and Tancharoen, one of the biggest changes the characters face will be practical, rather than ideological.
“Survival is a huge part of it,” Tancharoen says. “There is no more tapping into big S.H.I.E.L.D. through the holo-comm. The guns you have on the plane are the guns you have. They’re basically left with the bare minimum.”
Whedon agrees, emphasizing the drastic change in the agents’ day-to-day experience. In a few short episodes, he says, Agent Coulson’s team will be transformed from privileged members of “the most massive organization ever created by man” to “a ragtag bunch scraping things together.”
Clark Gregg (Phil Coulson) agrees, but is enthusiastic about the potential inspired by the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Coulson’s growing mistrust of S.H.I.E.L.D. has been an established theme in season one, and that development will now pay off in a major way.
“To have everything dissolve around him to the point that S.H.I.E.L.D. itself is in smoking ruins (and have) that crisis of faith is such an amazing thing to explore,” Gregg says.
These thoughts are echoed by other members of the cast in a new video from Marvel.
Brett Dalton (Agent Ward) says that while Captain America “can show all that stuff on a big scale, we can show how it effects people on a very personal, very intimate level.”
“It’s going to heavily effect the relationships of our characters on the show,” agrees Chloe Bennet (Skye). “[Captain America] is going to really change the tone of our show and the direction that it’s going to take for the rest of the season… It’s gonna blow your mind!”
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 1, episode 17, “Turn, Turn, Turn,” will air tomorrow night at 8:00 p.m. on ABC.