According to Entertainment Weekly, ABC is quietly devloping a spin-off show from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. It’s apparently being devloped by executive producer Jeffrey Bell (Angel, The X-Files) and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. writer Paul Zbyszewski (Lost, Hawaii Five-0).

This shouldn’t come as a surprise given that Jeph Loeb pretty much hinted at other projects being in development earlier this year. What is surprising is that it’ll be a spin-off of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D..

Now let’s get to the fun stuff… the speculation. What are the potential spin-off shows?

Agents of S.W.O.R.D.

For those unfamiliar with S.W.O.R.D., here’s a description from Wikipedia:

S.W.O.R.D. (Sentient World Observation and Response Department) is a fictional counterterrorism and intelligence agency in the Marvel Comics Universe. Its purpose is to deal with extraterrestrial threats to world security.

Honestly, a S.W.O.R.D. spin-off show seems to be the obvious choice given the recent events on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. Now, there could be some legal issues here seeing as S.W.O.R.D. was introduced in Astonishing X-Men vol. 3, #6, but S.W.O.R.D. was referenced in an alternate ending from Thor so there’s still a chance it could be another split deal — like how both Marvel & Fox are able to use Quicksilver & Scarlet Witch.

Edward James Olmos, who is currently guest starring as Agent Robert Gonzales on S.H.I.E.L.D., could be the perfect choice to lead an Agents of S.W.O.R.D. show. He has even talked about how he enjoys the Marvel Universe, and if you go through his other tweets, it’s easy to see he is enjoying his time on the show.

And given the current storyline, and how strained the relationship is between both S.H.I.E.L.D. teams, it would only make sense for the “real” S.H.I.E.L.D. to actually be a part of S.W.O.R.D..

Mockingbird

If there is one character on S.H.I.E.L.D. that deserves a spin-off show, it’s Bobbi Morse, a.k.a. Mockingbird. Adrianne Palicki has been a fantastic addition to the second season of the show, stealing nearly every scene she’s been in. Honestly, as much as I love her on S.H.I.E.L.D., Palicki’s Morse deserves a chance at leading her own show.

Deathlok

Now that Deathlok is back on S.H.I.E.L.D., I’m hoping it’s for the long haul, but if it isn’t? J. August Richards deserves a shot at his own show.

Deathlok wasn’t handled properly during the first season. As much as I love S.H.I.E.L.D., even I can’t admit that. Thankfully, they seem to have righted those wrongs with his return in season two. Still, I can’t help but to think of how wonderful a Deathlok show would be. There’s so much to this character that Richards hasn’t been able to truly showcase just yet. Why not give him his own show?

Cloak and Dagger

A Cloak & Dagger show was actually in the works four years ago. Since then, we haven’t heard much about Marvel planning on doing anything with these characters. Now, seeing as they’ve never been on S.H.I.E.L.D., or even mentioned at this point, the chances of this being the spin-off show are rather slim. Still, it is a possibility worth considering, given that Marvel was once considering it.

Inhumans

I’m only adding this here because people have been speculating about this. Now, would an Inhumans show make sense given where season two has gone? Sure. Do I see this happening? Nope. The budget alone for that show would be insane, not to mention the fact that the movie is still set for 2019 — four years away. Maybe they’ll include the Inhumans on the spin-off show – in fact, I’m sure they will – but a spin-off show just doesn’t seem logical right now.

Now onto the bad part of all of this…

What does this mean for Agent Carter?

While the news of the spin-off didn’t bring much news about what we can expect, it did highlight the fact that Agent Carter‘s renewal chances are still “up in the air”.

I’ve been a huge advocate for Agent Carter since the show aired. I know a lot of fans lost interest early on, but for me, it was a solid hour of storytelling with a fantastic female lead (Hayley Atwell). I have been hoping for a second season since the first season wrapped up, but as of right now, the fate of Agent Carter is still unsure. Most sites are certain it’ll be cancelled, while EW seems to think it has a sixty-percent chance of being renewed next month.

But it’s important to note that, if Agent Carter does return, things may change quite a bit. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.‘s first season aired from September 2013-May 2014. This was with a decent amount of breaks. Season two of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. ended up being split. Season 2A ran from August 2014-December 2014, and season 2B picked back up in March and will run through May. This allowed for ABC to air Agent Carter in its place on Tuesday’s. The show did decent when it premiered, but ratings continuted to dip until the eight-episode first season ended in February of this year.

Now, with this spin-off show, Entertainment Weekly is suggesting this new show could air as early as fall this year. Meaning, it wouldn’t be brought in to act as a replacement like Agent Carter did during season two of S.H.I.E.L.D., but rather a second Marvel program on the network during the week. (Worth noting, they say it could be also end up being a midseason show.) This opens up a decent amount of possibilities. Assuming the show receives a fall premiere, this would put it on air the same time as S.H.I.E.L.D., leaving room for Agent Carter to still take over during the hiatus. (Of course, this would then raise the question of what Marvel plans to do during the hiatus for the spin-off?) If they change up the schedule a bit, keeping Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Agent Carter on Tuesdays, the new show could easily move to a Monday or Wednesday slot.

ABC has been very vocal about their love of Agent Carter, so again, I wouldn’t write the show’s renewal chances off just yet. They’ve even defended the ratings. I’d like to think that, come next month, they’ll give the show a second season, but that’s not guranteed. But the good news out of all of this is that a spin-off show will not automatically rid Agent Carter‘s chances at another season. In fact, if anything, it seems as though ABC is working on the spin-off with Agent Carter already in mind.

It’s also worth noting that the CW is currently getting ready to bring in a third DC show set within the same universe as Arrow and The Flash, so it isn’t entirely possible for ABC to run multiple Marvel titles at once.

There’s still a lot we don’t know about what ABC has in mind with this new project, but more Marvel on my television is always a good thing!

UPDATED to include new information from Deadline:

I hear the project, first reported by EW, would feature cast members from the mothership series, with the talent deals currently being worked out.

Source: Entertainment Weekly.