The end is coming for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., as news recently broke that Marvel's first live-action primetime superhero series will wrap up at the end of Season 7. The good news is that S.H.I.E.L.D. is still airing Season 6, so there's no need to start a countdown to the final credits just yet. Still, it does raise the question of what will became of the S.H.I.E.L.D. characters once the final credits roll.
Star Clark Gregg chatted with CinemaBlend and other press outlets at Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s San Diego Comic-Con round tables, and he said this when asked if he could appear in future Marvel projects:
Well, Captain Marvel was a throwback. Was a 90s thing… I don’t know. There are ways that what happens in [Seasons] 6 and 7 might leave an open door to that kind of thing. I gotta say this journey and this team and just being in the middle of this until it’s over… that’s been all all-encompassing, and that’s where Phil Coulson, or whoever, his focus is. And once that smoke clears it’ll be time to see what’s next.
The MCU is massive and not going anywhere, despite the loss of some big heroes during the events of Avengers: Endgame. The Marvel Cinematic Universe will obviously outlive when Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. comes to an end, which could mean the opportunity for Clark Gregg and the rest of the cast to reprise their roles. After all, there's even Disney+ coming up as a platform for Marvel. Gregg's comments are promising, if not definitive.
At this point, S.H.I.E.L.D. hasn't revealed how Coulson and Sarge are connected, if indeed they are connected beyond sharing DNA. Is there a Phil Coulson consciousness buried down beneath the mysterious Sarge? Or a Phil Coulson who can be restored to that body? Was there some kind of T.A.H.I.T.I.I. process that resulted in Sarge?
Since that mystery is still as enigmatic as ever, of course Clark Gregg couldn't say whether he'd return as Coulson for any kind of MCU project not set prior to Coulson's death, either in The Avengers or following S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 5. Whoever he's still playing in the final moments of Season 7, perhaps that character will be able to move on to another project in the MCU. S.H.I.E.L.D. wouldn't still be "all-encompassing," after all!
All of this said, there is still plenty of time before the series finale. Season 6 is still airing, and the seventh and final season doesn't debut until next year. As sad as fans will undoubtedly be at the end of Marvel's first big live-action primetime series, at least S.H.I.E.L.D. will have had the chance to craft a solid ending. After all, Clark Gregg did reveal how the cast thought Season 5 was going to be the end.
There's also the point that the end of S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn't mean the end of the MCU on the small screen. Disney+ is premiering a show all about Loki, with Tom Hiddleston reprising his famous role. Scarlet Witch and Vision have a series of their own as well, as do Falcon and Winter Soldier. Throw in everything in the works for Phase 4, and plenty of Marvel will continue making its way to the screen.
For now, you can catch new episodes of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (which recently managed to make Fitz and Simmons' story even darker than it has been in the past few cursed seasons) on Fridays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
