Spoiler Warning: Not caught up with this week’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode, “The Inside Man”? Then I’d suggest you stop reading from this point on as there will be spoilers below.
One thing Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has never had a problem doing is changing things up from time to time, and that’s exactly what they did with last night’s “The Inside Man”. In an episode that saw the return of General Talbot (Adrian Pasdar) and Carl Creel/Absorbing Man (Brian Patrick Wade), two characters that played a big part in “The Inside Man”, the series managed to also allow for the set-up of the potential spin-off, Marvel’s Most Wanted, which just recently had its first table read and is about ready to enter production on the pilot. However, while this episode no doubt helped to set up Most Wanted, while also successfully managing to bring Creel and Talbot back into the fold of things, it also set out to further develop Hive.
The twelfth episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.‘s third season came with plenty of twists and turns, however, there was no denying that the true scene stealer was Brett Dalton‘s Hive. Not only has the actor done a fantastic job at portraying his character’s latest incarnation on the series, with just the right amount of effective creepiness, but he has also managed to allow the character to be more than a two-dimensional villain, even if we’re still unsure of his motives. And it was in the moment that he fed on five innocent humans that we saw just how powerful Hive was, and what the being was capable of. You know, the scene where he appears to be covered in honey.
Dalton, along with co-showrunner Maurissa Tancharoen and executive producer Jeffrey Bell, talked about that scene, as well as what it meant for the character. According to Tancharoen, they gave the actor a big enough heads up to be sure to be in the best shape possible as opposed to the skin and bones we’ve come to know since the mid-season premiere. But where did the inspiration for the scene come from, and what did they envision it to be? For Bell, it was their way of showcasing a “birth” for the character.
Executive producer Jeffrey Bell says the tactile moment was in part inspired by a photographer’s online portraits of people and babies covered in honey. “We thought, ‘This is kind of like a birth, and we should do that for [Hive].’ But we didn’t take the [temperature] into consideration!”
As for Dalton, as uncomfortable as the goo may have been, he was all for it. Even with the mess it brought on.
Says Dalton himself, “I was all for it — ‘Put me in, coach! Let’s do another!’ And all through the day they were telling me how they’re warming up this goo.” But not only was the end product cold, “It got everywhere you imagine goo could go,” the actor confirms. “This was as close to a nightmare as I’ve had on this set!”
Of course, shortly after that scene, was the moment seemingly meant to lay the foundation for Marvel’s Most Wanted, the potential spin-off series starring Adrianne Palicki (Bobbi Morse) and Nick Blood (Lance Hunter). While both will continue on S.H.I.E.L.D. – for the time being, at least – the summary for the new series sees the two characters splitting off from the S.H.I.E.L.D. team with a bounty out after them, meaning they’ll have to eventually separate them from Coulson and company, something hinted at in next week’s episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D..
Speaking with Blood, TV Line was able to get some information regarding Bobbi and Hunter’s story going forward, and what we can expect to see with them left on their own in next week’s episode. (And perhaps Most Wanted?)
“Hunter prefers it when he’s not working under the jurisdiction of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” says portrayer Nick Blood, “and this is an opportunity where they’re on their own, where they can put their phones on airplane mode and make up their own rules. “And when they are on their own together,” the actor continues, “you see how they compliment each other.”
Palicki, who spoke to People about what’s coming up for Bobbi on S.H.I.E.L.D. explained that we can continue to expect plenty of twists and turns. (This is S.H.I.E.L.D. we’re talking about, after all.)
“It’s going to be major twists and turns for the character,” she told PEOPLE last week at the Austin Film Society’s Texas Film Awards.
So, with the spin-off moving forward with production on the pilot, what leads to Bobbi and Hunter splitting off for Marvel’s Most Wanted and when? Tancharoen wasn’t ready to reveal that information just yet.
The S.H.I.E.L.D. team is tight-lipped on the timetable for whatever it is that might set the stage for Marvel’s Most Wanted, while Tancharoen will only say of Bobbi and Hunter’s next move, embedded there under Malick’s nose, is that it will be a “rip-roaring adventure.”
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