Agents of SHIELD Showrunners Talk Major Death
The Agents Of Shield season finale had some major ramifications for the series going forward (as it was the only Marvel show to get renewed on ABC) and it’s clear that this impact will be felt.
Spoilers for the season finale ahead!
In the two-part finale, two major characters were killed. Hive, who was inhabiting the body of Grant Ward, and the Inhuman Lincoln, who was a member of the Secret Warriors and Daisy Johnson’s boyfriend. IGN talked with co-creators Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen about the deaths, and how the decision was made to kill these characters.
“There was a lot leading up to that decision. Partially it came from the end of Hive and the idea that we knew we were going to end his storyline at the end of the season and it would be the second ending for Grant Ward. We wanted to give it weight and we wanted to give it meeting because he is not only a huge big bad as Hive, but it’s Brett Dalton, who has been with us from the very beginning. It couldn’t just feel like a victory. It had to feel like a loss at the same time because that’s how we were feeling about it. We love Brett and had managed to maintain him as an antagonist for three seasons but we knew it was time for his character to meet his end. We knew someone was going to make the hero’s sacrifice play. And the most meaningful and logical choice was Lincoln because he’s a lost soul and there’s something nice about someone finding their purpose in their last moments and doing the ultimate hero act, because they don’t believe they really are a hero. That to us — those were sort of the deciding factors.”