Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. returns for a fifth season tonight and brings a brand new status quo qith it; the team has been transported into space for reasons unknown, and quickly find themselves being hunted. While some fans hoped that the journey to space might tie in to the upcoming cosmic battle in Avengers: Infinity War, showrunner Jed Whedon has cautioned that the show plans to run themtically parallel to the Marvel Cinematic Universe going forward, as opposed to having the films directly affect the show.
“We try to a little bit follow in the wake of the films as they plot new territory in the MCU,” Whedon said at a press event in Los Angeles (via CBR). “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.”
Early seasons of S.H.I.E.L.D. had very direct connections to the greater MCU; the first season saw ramifications from The Avengers, Thor: The Dark World, and most significantly, Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Season 2 tied into Avengers: Age of Ultron by revealing it was Coulson who orchestrated the attack on Baron Strucker's base. As the show has progressed, however, the more overt ties to the films have lessened, and Whedon admits that this is purposeful now that the show can stand on its own two feet.
“It’s a thematic tie,” Whedon said of the move to space. “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.”
Are you glad to see S.H.I.E.L.D. forging its own path, or would you prefer a greater sense of cohesion? Let us know in the usualy place! Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. returns tonight on ABC.
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