SDCC 2014: Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. Roundtable Interviews [Videos]

Bam Smack Pow was at San Diego Comic-Con 2014, and we had the chance to sit down with the cast and crew of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. for some quick roundtable interviews.

We felt that the series really started to find its footing in the second half of the first season. (If you haven’t yet, check out the extensive episode reviews written by our own Christina Roberts.) The narrative got wonderfully dark and much, much less episodic.

Executive producers and writers Jeph Loeb and Jeffrey Bell confirm that the second season of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will open up dark. While it’s to be expected that the second season will again start off relatively episodic, Loeb and Bell verify that the story will continue right where it left off. “Things haven’t gotten better,” Bell says.

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The interview also provides some wonderfully vague nuggets of information regarding some characters, both new and old. The producers confirmed that we will (thankfully) be seeing more of Agent Antoine Triplett (B.J. Britt) and that we won’t have to wait long for Mockingbird to show up.

Loeb then discusses how great the fan reaction was to the reveal of Agent Ward (Brett Dalton) as HYDRA. “When Ward turns and everyone in America was talking about it, that only happens when you care.”

Check out the rest of the brief interviews below:

Clark Gregg talks about what being made director of S.H.I.E.L.D. means for his character.

Brett Dalton quickly talks about the unpredictability of feelings and how glad he was that his character, Grant Ward, wasn’t rushed through a redemption arc at the end of the first season. Also note the HYDRA shirt, which, yes, he is taunting us with!

Ming-Na Wen reveals she felt Tsai Chin was the only actress who could play her mother. She also talks about her favorite Mayism.

Writers Maurissa Tancharoen and Jed Whedon talk about diversity, standards and practices and the feasibility of comic book-based TV shows nowadays.

Iain De Caestecker discusses why Leo Fitz held onto hope for so long that Ward wasn’t HYDRA, while Elizabeth Henstridge talks about the relationship between Fitz and Simmons.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. returns to ABC on Tuesday, September 23rd, 2014 at 9 p.m.