Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Cast Interview

It’s no secret that we are Marvel fans around here, with 2 little boys there is no end to super hero fun for us. I was beyond thrilled to attend the Avengers press trip recently. Watching the new movie, Avengers: Age of Ultron and interviewing the cast was pretty exciting. However I think my favorite part of the trip was visiting the MARVEL Agents S.H.I.E.LD set. Not only was it my first ever visit to a TV show but MARVEL Agents S.H.I.E.LD is one of my favorite shows on TV!

When the show debuted last year I was immediately intrigued because I love the Avengers. I loved the idea of a weekly television show extending that story in some way. I found the show a little silly at first because I wasn’t invested in the characters, I didn’t know any of them beyond Coulson. By midseason I was hooked, I loved all most of the characters and also how the show sometimes tied back to the movies.

When we arrived on MARVEL Agents S.H.I.E.LD set, we were ushered to the sound stage that houses “the Bus” (with Lola on it) and a Quinjet. Everyone sat down giddy, checking out all the cool things right in front of us. On top of that, some of the cast were in the Bus rehearsing a scene. No boring conference room for these interviews!

Our set visit included several interview sessions with cast and crew, a set tour and a sneak peek at a scene being shot for a future episode. Today I am sharing a few fun things from our interviews with Henry Simmons (Mack), Brett Dalton (Ward), Elizabeth Henstridge (Simmons), Iain de Caestecker (Fitz) and Adrianne Palicki (Bobbi).

With so many crazy plot twists and secrets, I asked Adrianne about how far in advance she knew what her big secret with “Mack” was.

“I had been on for quite a few episodes and we started talking about this secret. I’m like, What is this secret, what is this secret, they would not tell me the secret! I was like, okay, you guys, as an actor, I need to know, they’re like, you’re not bad, you’re not Hydra. And I was like, well that doesn’t tell me anything. What does that mean? What am I? So, yeah no I didn’t know until probably like an episode before we shot the coming out of what it was. So it keeps it interesting”

Brett also touched on the same thing. He had no idea he was Hydra until right before it happened.

“No, I didn’t know before. They let me know like the episode before so there wasn’t a lot of a heads up on that. I appreciate the Wikipedia entry where somebody said [that] they let me know in the beginning of the season, so I could subtly play it every scene. I don’t know who wrote that but I was like, oh, thank you for the credit in something I did not do. It was a big change but I think it really, I don’t know, rounded out the character in a way… all of the back story underneath it and all of the pain, danger in there…Made him really fun to play.”

It’s sort of crazy that the actors don’t have a big picture of where their characters are going. It must be hard to remain true to your character when you don’t really know what is going on or maybe that’s part of the fun?

We also chatted about betrayals on the show and whether they thought their character’s relationships could be mended. This is Adrianne talking about her relationship with “Hunter “after her big secret with “Mack” was revealed.

“I mean, that’s kind of the thing with them, is that they’re this on again off again entity, as you know.  She’s done a really big thing, which is, lied to him massively for a long period of time. So there’s definitely going to be a lot of mending before, you know, anything can happen.  But it’s a possibility.”

I loved seeing “Hunter” side with “Coulson” after the secret was revealed! (By the way Coulson’s S.H.I.E.L.D. has to be the real one!!)

It was interesting to interview Iain with “Mack”, “Simmons” and “Ward” because he was close to all of them and betrayed by all three as well. They talked about which character he would most likely forgive.

IAIN – “Probably Simmons.  I mean he’s got the most history I think, Simmons….  Even when they fight and stuff and they’ve fought a lot this season, quite seriously, I think. But I think there’s always…I can’t ever see them being out of each other’s lives, really.”

ELIZABETH – “We’d still like to see them come together, in the episode (#16) that they’re back to working together and they…you see that they still have that relationship where they get how each other’s thinking.  Fitz knew that Simmons wasn’t just doing what she said she was doing.  And she was giving him kind of coded messages through what she as doing, and him picking up the cue.  So I think that there’s always…you can’t just wipe out history with someone.  And these two have been together for years, so.”

IAIN – “Yeah, the relationship with Ward is irreparable.  As much as Ward would like to be friends once again it’s just not gonna happen…Oh with Mack. That’s an interesting one, actually.  I mean it depends what’s gonna happen exactly with that storyline, I suppose.  I mean ‘cause like for example with Ward, I think the reason that’s kind of irreparable is because he’s done some unforgivable things …”

Despite the betrayals and plot craziness happening on MARVEL Agents S.H.I.E.LD, it’s clear the cast has become great friends and love working together. Their camaraderie and light-hearted teasing of each other was fun to watch. I’ll be sharing more fun from our set visit in the next few weeks, including our interview with Clark Gregg and Ming-Na Wen!

I had an early peak at last week’s episode “Melinda May” during my trip, so I’ve been waiting 2 weeks for for the next episode! I can’t wait to watch “The Frenemy of My Enemy” tonight at 9|8c on ABC. S.H.I.E.L.D. is forced to make a deal with Grant Ward. Crazy!! If you need to catch up on past episodes head over to ABC.

Disney hosted me in LA while I attended the #AvengersEvent press trip which included movie screenings and interviews. As always, all opinions and experiences are my own.