Warning: This story contains major spoilers from the season finale ofMarvels Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.Read at your own risk!
The prophecy that one of S.H.I.E.L.Ds own would die came to fruition in theAgents of S.H.I.E.L.D.finale, but twist!
that wasnt the only death.
Credit: ABC/Richard Cartwright
Yes, both Lincoln and Hive have died, with Mitchell and Dalton no longer series regulars.
(Read our postmortems with Mitchellhereand Daltonhere.
Plus: The cast reacts to those deaths on sethere.)
ABC
However, the double dose of death wasnt the only twist in the two-hour finale.
After preventing Hive from dispersing the serum that would turn most of humanity into Primitives, a.k.a.
swayed Inhumans, S.H.I.E.L.D.
went through some changes.
JEPH LOEB:It was the most heartbreaking decision.
JEFF BELL:He earned it.
MAURISSA TANCHAROEN:He did earn it.
With Lincoln, like Daisy, he has always struggled to find a place to belong.
He found a place in Afterlife and realized, No, not so much.
Then he was floating on his own.
As an Inhuman who has been swayed, these people truly feel better than theyve ever felt.
JED WHEDON:Its the addiction metaphor.
Hes someone who has gone through it.
What we had not done is the heroic death and the full-sacrifice death.
This was a conscious decision.
BELL:We say every Inhuman has a purpose.
We thought Lash was to stop Hive, but it was to save Daisy.
He gets to a place where he knows what his purpose is now.
WHEDON:And he knows hers is something else.
That, to us, was heartbreaking, and sometimes thats what were trying to do.
At the same time, weve done that a lot with FitzSimmons.
Then, by the end, you do not want him to go.
BELL:You wanted it to be the most painful, the most meaningful, otherwise why do it?
Was that on purpose?
BELL:No, actually someone else pointed that out recently and I went, No, we suck.
WHEDON:Theres something heartbreaking about not being able to be face-to-face with the person.
TANCHAROEN:And having the comms be the lifeline to the other person.
WHEDON:Something heartbreaking about, I cant even see you right now.
Im losing my connection, and Im being pulled away from you.
Its not like, this is your last goodbye; we didnt even get one.
So thats the idea behind it.
Lincoln is like, If you want to turn me now, I guess.
No, thats all right.
WHEDON:Theyre sort of resigned.
For Hive, its this notion of, Ive never experienced death; this will be interesting.
For Lincoln looking down on this small planet: Well, Ive always wanted to see the world.
To me, that scene is really as beautiful and poetic as the Daisy-Lincoln one.
WHEDON:Its heartbreaking for us.
In a lot of series, characters will come and go based on the actors.
Youll have an actor who suddenly dies on a show.
Whereas, this decision is story based.
TANCHAROEN:So its a very hard decision to come to.
WHEDON:We hate seeing these two go.
Theyre both a pleasure to work with.
What about for Hive?
WHEDON:Theres a different emotion for both [deaths].
You havent been rooting
BELL:There are some people who are still rooting for Grant Ward.
LOEB:#StandWithWard.
BELL:He was the first guy we shot [on set].
WHEDON:Its emotional here right now.
Thats Ward, too.
Ward always wanted that.
He didnt know how to do that.
Theres a lot in that moment.
BELL:Lukes been here for a year and a half.
TANCHAROEN:We were his first screen test, I believe.
And he was the first guy on set that we shot in that giant empty hanger on day 1.
That was his first day.
WHEDON:And yet youre still rooting for him, still being appealing while hes being evil.
Then going through the wringer of season 2, trapped, then the villain, then the supervillain.
Now hes gone through another transformation, and hes fielded it all.
We were basically saying he is the incarnation of the first evil.
WHEDON:Also, the one way you’re free to generate more story is redemption.
We never wanted to buy him back.
That being said, we bought him back in little bites.
Ultimately, hes the baddie.
We literally took him to another planet and have him possessed by something even more evil.
How much guilt do you think Daisy feels in the wake of Lincolns death?
She would definitely choose that option.
TANCHAROEN: That very question is what well explore in season 4.
Why the six-month time jump?
WHEDON:Weve done it each season, so we just wanted to do it a little early.
Weve done it with Malick.
We decided to have Hive ask him that and make that the story.
How do you follow?
One of the solutions is to go [with a flash forward].
BELL: Coulsons arc this season was about a man who struggles with losing his humanity.
By the end, hes also willing to sacrifice himself, or at least seemingly so.
He had a hologram there, but he put himself in harms way in trying to right what happened.
FitzSimmons were torn apart at the beginning, spent the year coming together, and now theyre this couple.
Theyve had a nice arc.
We can go through that with everyone.
Weve done those arcs, but we still have a lot of plot.
Emotionally, their arcs are done.
It allows us to put down a lot of old plot and pick up a lot of new.
TANCHAROEN: Weve trying to put a spin on our usual cliffhanger.
Daisy has gone totally goth and is on the run.
Shes not with S.H.I.E.L.D.
Shes with the family of the Inhuman who gave her the premonition in the first place.
Whats going on there?
TANCHAROEN:Shes keeping a promise.
WHEDON: She did promise that she would take care of them.
She set out to take care of Inhumans, even though it morphed into a leadership role.
TANCHAROEN: I think its maybe an example of what she may be doing now.
Lincoln said, I think youre meant for more than this.
TANCHAROEN: With that six-month jump, we know a few things going into season 4.
We know that shes on her own, we know that S.H.I.E.L.D.
She said, Ill take care of your daughter.
LOEB: And also, in many ways, weve come back to
WHEDON: who she was.
What is the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D.
I have to imagine some of them arent happy about that.
WHEDON: Youll have to imagine it.
LOEB: Thats a fun thing to imagine.
BELL: And Coulsons no longer director.
Yeah, whats going on there?
TANCHAROEN:I dont know.
Do you know why?
BELL:We just call everybody director now.
BELL:Weve got cool people with punchy powers, so we dont want that to go away.
WHEDON:Theyre in the world, but right now theyre not banded together in any way.
Theres always hope in the future.
Dr. Radcliffe has been working on a Marvel staple: Life Model Decoys!
As to how and where and most importantly who, thats what Season 4 will bring.
It does ask that question: Who, or what, can you trust?
Do you plan to have John Hannah around next season?
TANCHAROEN:We like John Hannah.
WHEDON:We like him very much.
We love how he interacts with our people.
TANCHAROEN:Hes an interesting character.
WHEDON:Were having those conversations.
Theyre going nowhere, but were having them.
LOEB: Look, what we have is an extraordinary library.
For moreMarvels Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.scoop, read our postmortem with Brett Daltonhereand our postmortem with Luke Mitchellhere.
Plus: The cast reacts to those deaths on sethere.
