[SPOILERS for the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 4 premiere ahead.]

-

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. hit the ground running - somewhat literally - with its season 4 premiere episode ‘The Ghost’, in turn quickly delivering on its promise of being a darker and “edgier” version of the espionage thriller (set against what is the increasingly fantastical backdrop of the Marvel Cinematic Universe) from seasons past. S.H.I.E.L.D. has gone from being a relatively episodic and light-weight affair to a more serialized piece of storytelling that deals with such dramatic elements as the hunt for Hydra (post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier), the rise of the Inhumans in the MCU - and now, not only the newly-emerged threat of Ghost Rider, but life under the Sokovia Accords.

The impact of Captain America: Civil War on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is now being fully felt in the series’ fourth season. The S.H.I.E.L.D. organization itself has been restructured and its very hierarchy reorganized under the watch of its new Director (Jason O’Mara): a fellow who is understandably paranoid about enemy operatives infiltrating the government body under his watch. For related reasons, the Director has split up Coulson (Clark Gregg) and his most trusted agents - and one imagines that when (?) Daisy (Chloe Bennet) returns to the fold at S.H.I.E.L.D., the Director will be closely monitoring everything that “Quake” does and does not do.

This, in turn, raises an interesting question: will Quaker and the (surviving) Secret Warriors ever reassemble again on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.? Showrunners Maurissa Tancharoen and Jed Whedon were asked that very question at the season 4 premiere event, with Whedon offering the following answer to Comic Book:

“Well, there’s new management at SHIELD, so getting around those rules will be tricky. But some of those characters are a permanent part of our universe.”

Secret Warrior member and Daisy’s love interest, Lincoln Campbell (Luke Mitchell) sacrificed his life in the S.H.I.E.L.D. season 3 finale, while Secret Warrior Joey Gutierrez (Juan Pablo Raba) didn’t make an appearance during the season 4 premiere episode. However, Elena “Yo-Yo” Rodriguez (Natalia Cordova-Buckley) did show up and the show revealed that she’s not only still working for S.H.I.E.L.D., but is also helping out Daisy on the side. Judging by what Tancharoen and Whedon have said on the matter, this might not be the only occasion where the remaining Secret Warriors have to work together in, well, secret:

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is shaping up to feel more like a proper spy drama in its fourth season than ever it has before, for related reasons: it seems everyone has a secret this season, due to the shake-ups in the power structure of the S.H.I.E.L.D. organization. In addition to Elena and Daisy secretly investigating Ghost Rider together, Fitz (Ian De Caestecker) now finds himself even keeping secrets from Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) after having learned that Dr. Radcliffe (John Hannah) has built a Life-Model Decoy in his spare time. And on top of all that, ‘The Ghost’ wrapped up with an epilogue teasing that Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen) is now seeing demonic visions of people, after having been exposed to… something supernatural (?) near the end of the episode.

Tancharoen: “In light of the Sokovia Accords and SHIELD being legitimized again, everything is going to be done with a closer eye and much more red tape. So, whether or not our team can come together in the way they did last year…”

Whedon: “They might have to find a way around that."

In other words: if the remaining Secret Warriors ever do reassemble, it might not be in an especially conventional manner.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. continues with ‘Meet the New Boss’ on Tuesday, September 27th at 10pm on ABC.

Source: Comic Book