‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D’: Daisy’s Inhuman Mission, a Mysterious New Director and Ghost Rider

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - Clark Gregg and Jason O’Mara
Jennifer Clasen/ABC
MARVEL'S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. - "Meet the New Boss" - Daisy goes to battle Ghost Rider at a terrible cost, and Coulson faces the new Director, and his bold agenda surprises them all, on "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.," TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27 (10:00-11:00 p.m. EDT), on the ABC Television Network. (ABC/Jennifer Clasen) CLARK GREGG, JASON O'MARA

It’s a new start for Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. as the series picks up with a six-month time jump teased at the end of Season 3. In the aftermath of Lincoln (Luke Mitchell) sacrificing himself to take out Hive (Brett Dalton) and save the world, his fellow Inhuman/love Daisy (Chloe Bennet) has abandoned the organization. “She’s not wallowing in her grief,” executive producer Jed Whedon says. “Daisy is taking action to try to live up to what Lincoln said: She was made for more than this.” As such, she’s on the run, using her enhanced human powers to evade S.H.I.E.L.D. agents pursuing her.

Daisy isn’t the only one attempting to make sense of the new normal: “We get a sense that everyone is doing their best to prevent what happened at the end of last year from happening again,” Whedon says of May (Ming-Na Wen) and the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. “Everyone, in their own way, is focused on creating a situation where that won’t happen again. Each character has their own way of doing that.”

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Things are a bit lighter for Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) and Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge), who are finally a solid couple. “Of course, with that comes its own complications when you’re living together [and working together],” says executive producer Maurissa Tancharoen. Adds Whedon: “What makes them great [is] they’re best friends. But being in a relationship makes it much more complicated—and working in a spy organization while being in a relationship makes things more complicated.”

Meanwhile, Coulson (Clark Gregg) is out as director of S.H.I.E.L.D., and a mysterious new guy (played by Jason O’Mara, pictured above right with Gregg) with ties to the Marvel Universe has taken over. The role is a mystery to O’Mara as well. “They gave me a little bit of information on what might happen to him over the season,” he recalls. “And I realized most of what they told me is in [my first] script!”

MARVEL'S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. - "The Ghost" - In the season premiere episode, "The Ghost," Ghost Rider is coming, and S.H.I.E.L.D will never be the same. "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." returns with a vengeance for the fourth exciting season in an all-new time period, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20 (10:00-11:00 p.m. EDT), on the ABC Television Network. (ABC/Jennifer Clasen) GABRIEL LUNA

Where’s the fire? Luna makes his Ghost Rider debut.

Also causing mayhem is antihero Robbie Reyes, aka Ghost Rider (Gabriel Luna), who brings his flaming skull and car to the ABC drama (which has tagged Ghost Rider onto the end of the series’ already lengthy title). “The testosterone knob has been turned up a notch,” says Tancharoen. “You’ll feel that right off the bat.”

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Season premiere, Tuesday, September 20, 10/9c, ABC