The GH.325 serum, taken from a mysterious alien corpse, might have brought Phil Coulson back from the dead, but it also had some unexpected side effects. The new S.H.I.E.L.D. director can't stop carving strange alien writings into his desk and walls.
"It seems to be progressing and that can't be good," Clark Gregg said at The Paley Center of Media's annual PaleyFest NY on Oct. 19.
The debilitating effect almost jeopardized his recent mission with Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen), who threatened to pull him off their undercover op if his hand kept uncontrollably shaking. The show will delve deeper into Coulson's mysterious alien blood problem "pretty damn soon," according to Gregg.
"It certainly seems... that it may soon become 'Crazy Is the Head' that wears the ostensible crown," Gregg said referring to an earlier episode this season entitled "Heavy Is the Head."
Coulson finally revealed his extracurricular writings to team member Skye (Chloe Bennet), who also received an injection of GH.325. The director and his young agent had spent most of this season on the outs, but his paternal instincts toward Skye kicked in again when she went in search of her father (Kyle MacLachlan). Skye only found an old picture of her and her father, and Coulson was there to comfort her when she realized her real father was a monster.
"It sure feels like there's a bit of a dual father thing where Coulson's more of a good father, maybe and her real father is pretty psychotic," Gregg said. "Again, Coulson's full of alien blood and carving at night so who knows. Maybe we'll see [Skye's father] become the good dad and I'll become the psycho."
As Coulson brings Skye into the fold about his late-night carving, the new director still has the daunting task of rebuilding S.H.I.E.L.D. after Hydra sleeper agents toppled the agency in "Captain America: The Winter Soldier."
"I'm the president of a country that doesn't exist and I have almost no money or weapons," Gregg said. "We've got nothing. We've got some old deserted bunkers in places that nobody knows about and I can't even show them [his car] Lola because Lola's in the shop."
The lack of identity can make it hard to find new recruits as well as having every major government and law enforcement agency trying to bring them in. Gregg is confident his S.H.I.E.L.D. team will rebound and take down Hydra and Daniel Whitehall again.
"If I know Phil Coulson and I know my team, I have a feeling we're going to get ahold of some resources. Some of them may be from this world, some of them may not," he said.
The more people that Coulson does bring into the fold, the less likely it seems he can keep the secret of his resurrection from his superhero pals, the Avengers. He already told Lady Sif of Asgard not to relay the news of his recovery to Thor upon her return home.
Coulson does regret keeping the secret from his hero, Steve Rogers a.k.a. Captain America, according to Gregg.
"It's very hard on his heart that Steve Rogers thinks that he's dead when he's not," he said. "He's lied to his hero. His hero thinks he's dead."
Plans to reveal that information to the Earth's Mightiest Heroes may already be in the works. Jeph Loeb, head of Marvel TV, told Headlines & Global News that "people will be satisfied in a very good way" when the Avengers do learn the news of Coulson's rebirth.
"When it happens, and where that happens is such a large event that we need to make sure it's in the right place and at the right time," Loeb said. "Keep in mind, [S.H.I.E.L.D. is] a secret organization, so they've been keeping an awful lot of secrets from the Avengers for a long time."
The next possibility for Coulson to crossover with the Avengers could come next year in "Avengers: Age of Ultron." The movie characters could always appear in "S.H.I.E.L.D." episodes as well before the film's release on May 1, 2015.
As it is with everything in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it's all connected.
"Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on ABC.
