Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 7 will see the resurrected Phil Coulson and his team traveling back into the past, which not only gives the show’s final run a unique hook but also allows it to crossover with another much-missed ABC Marvel series. Yes, it’s finally been confirmed that AoS season 7 will feature at least one main character from Agent Carter – Enver Gjokaj, reprising his role as SSR agent Daniel Sousa.
Entertainment Weekly revealed the news, along with our first look at Sousa’s return to the MCU. While speaking to EW, Gjokaj admitted that he never expected to get the chance to play the part again after Carter was cancelled back in 2016.
“It wasn’t anywhere near my brain,” says Gjokaj. “I would’ve been thrilled at any moment for it to come back, but I think as an actor you don’t have time. You just have to move on to the next project.”
Co-showrunner Jed Whedon then teased the fun we can expect from Coulson, the biggest fanboy there is, meeting someone from S.H.I.E.L.D.’s past.
“One of the things we think is so fun — especially with Coulson, who’s just a fanboy for S.H.I.E.L.D. history — is them just getting to walk right into [that history],” says Whedon. “With Sousa, we had a good opportunity to hit that note with Agent Coulson.”
Gjokaj added that he enjoyed discovering how much the two characters have in common.
“What’s unexpectedly, for me, really fun is that we realized once we got Coulson and [Sousa] in the same scene that they’re very similar.”
When we last saw Sousa in Agent Carter season 2, he had been made chief of the Los Angeles branch of the Strategic Scientific Reserve, the pre-cursor to S.H.I.E.L.D. and he and Peggy had finally gotten together. Co-showrunner Jeff Bell promises that when we catch up with him in AoS, he’ll be in a slightly different place.
“We get to see him in a different light,” says Bell. “[Sousa] had a particular role on [Agent Carter], and so we were able to show another color of him that you hadn’t necessarily seen on the show.”
AoS fans might’ve already known this was coming, as Ming-Na Wen accidentally revealed Gjokaj was involved in season 7 in an Instagram post she shared last year. Reports say Hayley Atwell may also show up in the run for a surprise comeback as Agent Carter herself. Fingers crossed!
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. kicks off its final season May 27th on ABC.