Despite the initial report that ABC would be bringing Agents of SHIELD back in 2018, it looks like Season 5 will start sooner than we expected. ABC Chief Channing Dungey attended the ongoing Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour today and spoke about SHIELD’s return in the 2017-2018 TV season.
It turns out that when The Inhumans wraps its eight-episode run for Season 1, Agents of SHIELD will start its fifth season the week after the finale. Dungey said the following:
“It’s going to come on right after Inhumans. As soon as the eight episodes of Inhumans is done, then S.H.I.E.L.D. will begin.”
Season 5 will consist of the regular 22-episode format and according to Dungey during the executive session, the plan is to air Season 5 uninterrupted, meaning we will hopefully not have as many breaks throughout the season as we did in Season 4. Dungey also discussed the overall picture of Marvel TV, including her thoughts on SHIELD’s growth from a creative standpoint in the last couple of seasons while comparing ABC’s Marvel shows with the Netflix shows.
“So what I would say about that is, look, I am a fan of the Marvel shows, and I think that some of what they are doing the work on Netflix is fantastic. The tone and the style of some of the Netflix shows, it’s not a very ABC tone or style. I don’t think that those shows would work as well on our air as they do work at Netflix, and I think that the right home for those shows is there. For those of you who are fans of “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” that show has continued to grow creatively every season, and I feel like last season, Season 4, was its strongest creatively yet. I am very excited for what we have planned for Season 5.”
In other SHIELD news, the show recently added Manson’s Lost Girls star Jeff Ward for a recurring role. Not much is known about Ward’s character other than that the character will have a “major multi-episode arc”.
The show will be attending New York Comic-Con this fall where we will most likely get out first look at Season 5, including a trailer, casting announcements and more.
Agents of SHIELD Season 5 will start in late 2017 on Friday nights at 9/8c on ABC.