Henry Simmons and Natalia Cordova gave us the scoop on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 5×09, as well a behind-the-scenes S.H.I.E.L.D. family love-fest.

Mack, Elena, and Flint really threw their lots in together, and took a few major steps toward rebellion in last week’s episode. What are their goals now in “Best Laid Plans”?

Henry Simmons: Well, first the plan was survival as a team. Survival. And when we found out the circumstances — where we were, all that kind of thing — it was getting home. Now it has shifted, I think, for Mack and Yo-Yo. The priority is getting home. But there’s another priority, and that is making sure that when and if we leave, that we leave the place better for not only people [in general] but specifically for Flint. Because Mack and Yo-Yo have taken this parental role in trying to protect him and prepare him for the future — his future. And that means just trying to annihilate Kasius and his power. In the short term, it’s starting a revolution.

What surprises can you tease in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 5×09?

Natalia Cordova: I was going to say, “This is really shocking!” But it doesn’t happen in this episode, so I can’t.

HS: Well, let me tell you this. I can tell you this. Kasius looks at himself as a god, right? But here’s the thing. When things — if things — start to falter for Kasius, he has a contingency plan. And his plan is not necessarily good for the human race.

And in terms of Flint, I’m imagining it’s not easy to step into a parent role for a teenager right off the bat. So how is that dynamic going to work with the three of you?

NC: Yo-Yo’s already in a relationship with a teenager, so that’s not hard for her.

HS: OH MY GOSH. [laughs]

NC: You know, girl. They never grow up!

I feel ya!

NC: I think for Yo-Yo, meeting Hope and seeing Mack as a father changed her. I think it changed their relationship [and] it changed her view of how she saw Mack. It’s something I wanted to be able to show more this season, how you know her love deepens for him in a different direction. They’re not just lovers and a couple, but she got to know him as father, as an individual [who] didn’t even remember her.

So I think her approach with Flint, for her there’s an excitement to be able to not just give the kid what she didn’t get, which was a companion or mentor as an Inhuman, [and] to tell him that he’s going to be okay. But also to be able to walk with Mack hand-in-hand through that relationship with a kid, which they didn’t get to do in the Framework. She felt so guilty about taking him away from his daughter that, whether he’s a teenager or not… I mean, Flint is also the coolest teenager ever. [Actor] Coy [Stewart] himself is the coolest kid ever, so it was pretty easy to just fall in love with with Flint as a character, and then I fell madly in love with Coy. I think he’s just an outstanding actor and human being.

So it’s really fun, because I think there’s a lot of the teenager in Yo-Yo, you know? There’s a part of her that’s very radical and rebellious, and doesn’t like to think or plan before she acts. Those are very teenager instincts, she relates to Flint in that way. And you know, I think for her, it is more of an easy task because she’s more playful in that motherly role than Mack is as a dad.

HS: Before we move on from the question, I just want to expound on one thing, and Natalia said something about it. The young man that plays Flint, Coy Stuart, I just have to say, you see the chemistry. Everyone talks about, “Oh, the chemistry Natalia and Henry have, they have it so easy,” and yada yada yada, it works well.

Let me just tell you this. From day one, from the moment he stepped on set, I think you can see that dynamic with us. There’s a chemistry that all three of us have that’s very easy. And I just want to say that he is such a well-prepared actor. He’s so talented, and as Natalia said, a genuinely just fantastic person. And what he brings to the role is something that is very much a needed for our show. And it fits so easily with the dynamic of our little family. On set, I call him my son! That’s how I feel about him.

NC: Yeah, on our social media we’re always calling each other “son” or “Mama.” We just fell in love with each other instantly! And it’s magical, you know?… Our relationship definitely has that thing where you couldn’t believe it. You know, I had already had such great chemistry with an actor on the show with Henry, and then comes in a kid that’s that sort of a reflection of what we would be as parents, and he would be as our kid. And he’s wonderful, and we love him and we just had the greatest time, you know? So it’s really great. And you feel so grateful to have those people around you when you’re working such long hours.

Speaking of Coy, it’s really wonderful to see three actors of color shoulder so much of the main story and action work on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. How do you guys feel about that?

HS: I will tell you this. The thing that I am so, so grateful, so blessed, so proud about this show is that [showrunners] Jed Whedon and Maurissa [Tancharoen], Jeff Bell — they do not shy away from giving, I hate this word, but I’ll say it, people perceived as minorities, giving us roles where we can show our strengths. Like on our show, you see that women are the ones that have the superpowers. They’re strong, they don’t need a man to save them or anything like that. They don’t need a man to save them emotionally, physically — they are strong within themselves. They actually do the saving.

In my experience, I can’t recall another show where they have had a Black man like myself step into a leadership position from time to time, and [be] allowed to be forceful and strong, and to do so in a way where it’s not compromised in another way, where you’ll see, oh, this character of color is strong but when they have this deficiency. It’s like something bad, or they need to negate the strength somehow.

This show doesn’t do that. Of course the characters all have their flaws. But the thing that I love is that they allow the people of color, women, everyone considered, as I said, minorities, to step up into their strengths and own it, and be equal to everyone else. And I do not see that in any other show. And I’m not putting down any other show. I’m just saying that —

NC: [You’re talking about] the history of TV, because it’s been like that.

HS: In the history of TV, yeah! It’s true. Our show is unique in that way.

NC: I just think it’s highly important. You know, I’m a 35-year-old woman so I’m past being a teenage actor, or a young actor in that sense. So for me to have had the pleasure to work with Henry as an African-American man, and then have Coy, and to be able to support a kid like Coy and know that there are kids his age out there that are going to look at this show and see themselves in this hero — it’s a little bit like healing myself.

There’s a repercussion of healing happening, where I go, okay well, maybe they didn’t do it for me. When I was young there were no Latina superheroes. Just to know that I, as an adult woman, support someone like Coy and give him as much as I can as an actor and as a person, for him to keep evolving and keep seeing these kids, and humans like him.

You know, when I wrote him on social media, I constantly say to him, “May this industry know people like you. Because he is really a good human being, and those are the people we need to uplift. So there’s a lot of pride for me, uplifting someone that I feel would have healed me as a child, and would have helped me as a child, to see myself reflected in that. So it’s also very healing, I think. And that to me is really important. And it’s something very special. It’s beyond special; it’s almost holy to me, to give a kid a platform and support that I don’t know if I got 15 years ago when I was his age.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 5×09 airs Friday, Jan. 26 at 9:00 p.m. on ABC.