PaleyFest: Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

As part of their Paley Fest, the PaleyCenter for Media featured a panel on Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. For the first time the festival was held at the Dolby Theatre, home of the Oscars. Before the main program began, the Paley Center showed a clip from Sex and the City. What does that have to do with anything, you ask? Well the clip was from the 2000 episode Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell that features Clark Gregg guest starring as Harris Bragen. I never watched the show so I can’t give you any context as to what happened in the clip, but it was weird to see Clark play such a weak man who gets queasy at the sight of blood. I am glad he got over it before Loki decided to spear him with his scepter.

Before the cast came out, executive producer and head of Marvel TV Jeph Loeb came out to grant all the assembled Level 7 clearance as they were about to screen the episode that is scheduled to air April 1. He asked that we not spoil it before going over the Marvel calendar. He said for us to watch the episode on April 1, then Captain America: The Winter Soldier on April 4, followed by another new episode of the series on April 8 (he misspoke and said April 7, but was reminded that the episode will air seven days after the previous installment).

The screened episode “The End of the Beginning” was amazing. I don’t want to spoil it, but I will write up my perspective as part of our Captain America: The Winter Soldier coverage next week.

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Following the well received episode, it was time to introduce the moderator. Felicia Day is a co-founder of Geek & Sundry as well as an actress best known for her work on the CW’s Supernatural. In short order she introduced the panel. Executive producers Jeph Loeb, Jeffrey Bell, Maurissa Tancharoen, and Jed Whedon were joined by cast members Iain de Caestecker (Fitz), Elizabeth Henstridge (Simmons), Chloe Bennet (Skye), Brett Dalton (Agent Ward), Ming-Na Wen (Agent May), and Clark Gregg (Agent Coulson).

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Time was spent discussing the Coulson Lives movment which sprung up on social media following the S.H.I.E.L.D.’s agent death in Marvel’s The Avengers. Clark Gregg loved playing the character and was heartbroken about his demise. Jeph Loeb told a story of how Clark tried to convince him to bring Coulson back in a TV series before Marvel’s The Avengers was released. Jeph responded by saying that the world needed to know Coulson died before they could bring him back. He also teased that Clark started the #CoulsonLives phenomenon on twitter. Clark joked, “I can now confess that I have 11,000 Twitter aliases, all of whom were very integral to starting the #CoulsonLives movement.”

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Gregg truly seems like an appreciative actor who can’t fathom how lucky he is. When others would talk about how amazing he is, he would just shake his head in disbelief. He also jumped off the stage twice, much to the chagrin on theater personnel, to hug fans. One fan presented the cast with gifts she had made that were wrapped in a Disney Parks bag. It was neat to see this accidental synergy.

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When talking about their own theories, Ming-Na mentioned that she believes Skye is Agent May and Thor’s child and that they will have to flashback to her origins which will be filmed in slow-motion and span several episodes. Speaking of May, she was originally named Agent Rice, but following the casting on Ming-Na Wen they thought it would be best to change the name.

Another little known fact is that Chloe Bennet was a Chinese pop star using her real name Chloe Wang. Let’s just say there were many people in the theater trying to find the video on YouTube. Luckily, we did the work for you.

For those wondering, the song is available on iTunes.

A lot of discussion was on the future of the show. While ABC head Paul Lee said he expects the show to be on the air a long time, the show has not been officially picked up for a second season. But if the show is picked up, the producers know where it is headed. As Jeff Bell mentioned that they know how they want the second and third season of the show to end already. He also teased that not all of the characters will be alive as the is produced by Joss Whedon who is known for killing off fan-favorite characters.

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During the fan Q&A many asked about the interconnectedness of the show with other Marvel Cinematic Universe properties. Without stating it outright, Jeph Loeb strongly hinted that the April 8 episode will be connected to Captain America: The Winter Soldier. He also said that he supports Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. crossing over with the Netflix original series that are currently in development.

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Following the Q&A the cast was swarmed by those seeking autographs. They were vary gracious and patient as they were still signing after I left the theater. As I was on the long drive home I kept thinking about the future of the Marvel Universe. You will understand this feeling when you see the April 1 episode. I am not kidding.