For the past few weeks, fans of Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD have been trying to get any news on whether the show will return next season. When they see their favorite agents trying to find a way to keep the Earth from exploding and keep their leader Phil Coulson alive, some fear both will happen and that’ll end the show.
Just last month there was a rumor that a sixth season with 22 episodes was approved according to a “source“, and that it would return to Tuesday nights. Then, last weekend, MCU Cosmic said there was a chance 13 new episodes would air between the releases of Captain Marvel and Avengers 4. It was a way to feature Coulson on TV and in the movies when he appears in Captain Marvel.
Then, sometime Tuesday morning, ABC confirmed SHIELD will have a sixth season of 13 episodes. However, they’ll air in the summer, after Avengers 4.
Some fans will say the show’s not only demoted but it’ll get a shorter season.
ABC President Channing Dungey says it’s not a bad thing, (Editor – why do I hear Dr Horrible’s voice saying this?) arguing it may give the show a longer run.
It’s also true some shows that traditionally air in the summer like America’s Got Talent are quite popular, and the stigma of a “summer series” isn’t as negative as it used to be, mainly thanks to cable TV.
Still, some naysayers will say that Agents of SHIELD‘s end is near, starting as a fall show then “declining” to summer fare with fewer episodes.
The fans don’t care. As long as Coulson, May, Fitz-Simmons, Yo-Yo, Daisy and Mack are there, they can feel very secure about the MCU…even more so if the gang can keep Earth whole and Coulson alive this week.
Who knows? Maybe they can sneak into Avengers 4
Then again, maybe that movie is why they’re waiting until the summer of 2019. Trying to tell a story arc that has nothing to do with Thanos after mentioning him at least once earlier this month sounds like SHIELD exists in a parallel MCU. It may be better for SHIELD’s sixth season to be the events that happened while Avengers 4 played out.
So, what could season six be about?
In case you still haven’t seen Infinity War, please look away from the next paragraph…
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A natural idea is that three of the agents, maybe four, disappear when Thanos snaps his fingers with the Infinity Guantlet. After all, if Nick Fury and Maria Hill dissolved when Thanos erases half of Creation to “fix things”, it also has to happen to SHIELD.
Fitz or Simmons will have to go (again), along with May and Mack. If the show wanted to get risky, Coulson can go, too. This will leave the survivors wondering what to do. Actually, any combo will do.
They’ll have to get some help. Lance Hunter can return while saying Bobbie Morse was “taken”. So could the “Candyman”, Tony Caine.
Again, if the show wants to add risk, it can reveal Ruby and Warner (the HYDRA kids) are alive again because the time loop problem was solved. They offer to “help” SHIELD, intending to double cross them because they’re evil….
….or not. If they both remember the old timeline where Ruby blew up and Werner was imploded thanks to gravitonium, maybe these kids will decide changing their ways would be better. Ruby and Daisy wind up friends after all, while Werner will get his “revenge” on SHIELD by being dangerous enough to be valuable to it. He’ll be like Grant Ward, except he double crosses the bad guys who raised him. So does Ruby.
Maybe we learn those who were dissolved just went to another dimension (maybe the Soul Stone), and will spend half the season to get out. This would work if Coulson is affected by Thanos.
Eventually everyone is back for the two-hour finale, and it’s game on. Maybe it will end with Captain America and Iron Man finding out Coulson is alive. That should happen in the movies and TV.
After that, who knows? If the summer is a better season for SHIELD, it can go into any direction. It might even go back to the Triskelion in D.C. Maybe they’ll bring Peggy Carter back, or show how she officially got SHIELD off the ground 60 years ago.
At the very least, this won’t be “the end” for SHIELD after Friday’s season finale. It will fight another day, although the next battle will be a tough one.
