Brett Dalton has truly been a standout during his time on Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. From ally to enemy, S.H.I.E.L.D agent to HYDRA agent, Dalton has had a chance to play several different roles within one character. He got yet another chance when Grant Ward was murdered by Phil Coulson and hos body reanimated by Hive, an ancient Inhuman. Dalton's take on the villain has been truly great, and the actor is enjoying the change as well. "What's so great about this character is, he started off as one of the good guys, as one of the original team. Here we are, coming full circle, with him being on the completely opposite side of that. He's not just one of the bad guys -- he's the bad guy! He is the embodiment of, some would say, evil. That's an insane journey to have. Obviously, I didn't know about any of this journey that I was going to have when I first got the job. I'm not sure if the writers did, either, but it's been fun. I feel like I've gotten to do three characters. It's a remarkable experience."
Playing an entirely new character possessing the body of his old one is no easy feat, and Dalton was ready for the challenge, taking on a far more subtle and less emotional approach when portraying the all-powerful Hive. "I took this as a huge opportunity to do something different. It's not another aspect of Grant Ward that's being revealed -- this is literally his body being used by another entity. The guy has been around for centuries, so he's all-powerful. He doesn't need to throw his weight around all the time. We were talking about how people in power don't need to convince everybody of their power, it's assumed. He doesn't speak very loud, and the way he carries himself -- it's sort of built-in with the cost. There's a movement that we tried to capture as somebody who is completely in control all the time. In fact, he's above his emotions. He's almost never operating from an emotional place, unlike Grant. It's a big risk. Even when I was doing it, I was like, "Is this going to work? I'm used to playing Grant Ward." One of the things Hive and Ward have in common, is they can see how all the moves on the board affect other things. Ward was called into Coulson's team as a risk assessment manager because he could see all of the moves. Hive can do the same, simply because he looks at things on a macro-level. He sees how all these things connect."
Last week's episode saw Hive infest Daisy, which will lead to reunion of sorts between the two characters this week. There still hasn't been a definitive answer on whether any piece of Grant Ward still lives on within Hive, though Dalton's answer helps to shine some light on the matter. "It's a combination. Ward is still in there, somewhere, and must be kicking and screaming and pushing Hive towards Daisy. Also, I think Daisy is strategically a really important chip on the table. Everybody cares about her so much, it makes Coulson do crazy things, it makes the S.H.I.E.L.D. members do wild, unpredictable things, and it gives Hive all the power. "If I have Daisy, then I have the upper hand." We're going to see how that goes, but I think it is a combination of, one side, having Hive's strategist mind and then, on the other side, Grant Ward is somewhere in there, screaming to get back to somebody who knows him." Whether or not we'll see Ward as himself again remains to be seen, though at this point, anything seems likely as we barrel towards Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s season finale.
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