After a few months off, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. returned with a great episode that gave us plenty of time with Secret Warriors and an introduction to Hive. While we wait for next week’s episode, a few of the cast members gave some interviews.
Daisy (Chloe Bennet) and Yo-Yo (Natalia Cordova-Buckley) got plenty of screen time and kicked some major butt, while Hive (Brett Dalton) rebuilt his strength. Each of the three actors talks about their characters, and the challenges that come with playing them.
Bennet and Dalton joined forces for an interview with CBR and each talked briefly about how their characters have changed since they started playing them almost three years ago. For Dalton, becoming Hive gave him a chance to experiment with his performance.
Dalton: I took it as an opportunity to play a whole different character. I look and sound like Grant Ward but I’m not Grant Ward. I’m walking around in his body, so I tried to do different things with his posture, with his voice.
Bennet has taken the character from hacker Skye, to new Inhuman, and now to Daisy being a full fledged superhero and leader of the Secret Warriors. S.H.I.E.L.D. has become her family, but her new Inhuman responsibilities could make for some difficult decisions coming up.
Bennet: That’s been a huge thing for Daisy and a big struggle for her since she became Inhuman. S.H.I.E.L.D. was her first family. Coulson was her first father figure that she’s ever had — it’s definitely a big theme for the season as well, where her loyalties lie, and I think she feels strongly for both of them. It’s going to put her in the middle. It’s going to get a little difficult for her to be able to protect the people that S.H.I.E.L.D. is protecting — to protect Inhumans but to protect other people from Inhumans.
Before we move on to the newest Inhuman, Bennet was also asked if there was anything coming up that we should be excited to see, and said that just like in season 2 Daisy has a great fight sequence coming up.
Bennet: I just shot another one take fight sequence, which was really fun to see. . . We shot that and it should be coming up pretty soon.
During her debut, Yo-Yo was the center of some great action sequences and scenes in general. Before she debuted on screen, Cordova did an interview with Latina where the actress spoke about what she loves most about playing the character.
Cordova-Buckley: What I love about her (and what will see in tomorrow’s episode) is that she fights for her people and she’s has this whole spiritual connection to her powers which is rare to ever see in a super hero movie or even a superhero character. They actually have a more profound connection to their powers than just ‘I have powers and I use them to battle evil or to do evil with.’ I love that about her. There are lot of things I have found very relatable to me, too. She’s a freedom fighter; in a lot of ways she wants to help her people in Colombia and she wants to do good with her powers and she makes sure that she’s very adamant on how she goes about things. She wants to use this [her powers] as what she calls a blessing and a gift from God to help others, so it’s a very unique approach to it all and I really loved it.
Not only does her inclusion bring another Inhuman into the mix, but we also get another female and a latina actress. Her presence further diversifies the cast of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and for her personally, she’s happy that this is happening and she is a part of it.
Cordova-Buckley: It means a lot because I do think that we are facing a time not of minorities not being seen or white people being honored more, but it is much more in our face. We’re hearing about it and seeing it much more – racism, sexism – is much more in our face than before. I think that’s the real change and we’re being more exposed to it, so we have a better reason to fight. The fact that this is becoming so evident is making people of power shine a light on minorities or people with less opportunities is wonderful, and I hope my role – being a minority maybe as a woman and a Latina – can help any other minority, be it anyone. I am so proud that there is a Latina who is a superhero. I hope that I can inspire girls in Mexico – my country needs it so much. But I don’t want to close it to just Latinos. If what I do in this world can uplift anyone, let’s do it. I don’t want it to just be about me uplifting Latinas, because I’m an actor and I can hope that I can play roles other than Latinas. We don’t just need to get to the point where we’re telling more Latino stories or African American stories; we need to get to a point where we can see these minorities playing other roles and being other things. We have to get off the wagon of differentiating us all the time. I hope this can just become something normal to all of us.
Episode 3×12, “The Inside Man“, of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will air next Tuesday at 9 p.m. EST on ABC.
