What Theme can Season 3 of Agents of SHIELD explore?

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While watching the season finale fort he first season of Agents of SHIELD my mind started to wander off with a variety of ideas that could be touched upon in the upcoming new season. Especially considering how much was not touched upon from the first season and that are still hiding in the background for it to finally come to light. With everything that our characters have gone through in the past season it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to imagine that some characters are still stuck on past actions in one way or another. With the shows unofficial tagline „It’s All Connected“ anything is possible fort he upcoming season, but it won’t stop the fans from coming up with their own strategies. Personally, i have already written an article regarding the project Caterpillar, which is already a nice nod to the Centipede program from the first season, but it seems it is time to talk about the actual theme of the show in general. I will do so by touching upon a few elements and characters that have a lot of potential to expand upon. I won’t spoil just yet what theme I have in mind for this season, but I won’t spoil it just yet.

Spoiler warning to anyone who has yet to have seen the first or second season of Agents of SHIELD, as the following article will spoiler a lot of elements. So continue reading at your own risk.

Return of an old Adversary

One character who was notably absent this season was the wealthy, corrupted man behind Quinn Worldwide, Ian Quinn (David Conrad) and the person who condemned Dr. Franklin Hall (Ian Hart) to become a part of gravitonium. A tease I have already mentioned in my article about the potential for Agents of SHIELD having their own team of gifted individuals, which could potentially be a great villain for them to face in the next season finale. Also it would be a nice fit as Raina (Ruth Negga) got the strongest focus in the second season, so having Quinn get more spotllight in the third seems like a nice natural progression. Especially Quinn can be a founder of a new version of AIM that could substitute for HYDRA or even be forced as the benefactor for Grant Ward’s (Brett Dalton), a character I will get too later, current personal vendetta. It seemed like the gravitronium storyline was going to lead something in the near future, and this seems like the perfect time for it.

Trip Lives

A good friend, whose blog you can find here, of mine started this trend shortly after a fan-favorite Antoine Triplett (B.J. Britt) died trying to save Skye (Chloe Bennett). As #CoulsonLives was able to bring back a fan-favorite character there was hope for Trip to be able to return as well. While up until this point there was no true sign of him being brought back to life, but I have an alternative that we can at least see the actor return for a few episodes, even if it isn’t much. In the second season, Coulson was forced to make a lot of sacrifices, one of them being his own hand, so one cannot deny that after everything that had happened he would become nostalgic and look back at what has happened up until this point. In the time between seasons one and two I imagine that he and Trip bonded strongly due to their fascination with Captain America and Trip’s grandfather being one of the Howling Commandos, a mystery that has yet to be truly touched upon. With Agent Carter returning for a second season it would be nice to see a short moment of Coulson sitting in a room alone contemplating the future as he has a little chat with what seems to be Trip. In the end, he is only holding conversations with himself, but it shows that even after everything that had happened Trip still lives on for him and the viewers. Having B.J. Britt return for a few scenes would just add to that effect as an old friend will always be there for us even if they aren’t there physically.

The Spy with One Eye

Speaking of Coulson’s past, I wish to see the return of Akela Amador (Pascale Armand), who played one of the first victims of the Centipede project, who lost one of her eyes. She was a former protégé of Coulsons who has somehow vanished after the fall of SHIELD even though she was taken into custody due to the crimes she was forced to conduct. She would seem like a perfect addition to the cast as to explore more of what had happened to SHIELD after it had fallen apart even building up to potential villains she was locked up with. Furthermore, it would allow for us as viewers to find out more about Coulson and even explore more of the people he had trained in the past. Seeing as the show is focused on SHIELD and in particular Coulson himself there are still many elements of his myterious past we have yet to uncover, this would seem like the perfect fit to further evolve his character.

To Save A Mockingbird

We already had hints of some bad things Bobbie Morse (Adriana Palicki) was forced to do as she infiltrated HYDRA, but there are still remnants of what would lead a former SHIELD agent to say she has reached her limit. There seems to be a lot of stories she hasn’t told anyone quite yet that could lead to more connections between her, the potential return of Isabelle Hartley (Lucy Lawless) and also Robert Gonzales (Edward James Olmos) as we find out how she was even given the codename Mockingbird. Maybe even further explore her relationship with Lance Hunter (Nick Blood) could show us more on why their relationship was as a rocky as the stories are that he had told throughout the second season.

A Warrior on the Edge

Oh boy let us get to the biggest topic and maybe the reason I initially started writing this article, Grant Ward. Most people probably have seen the backlash the season finale had received from Ward fans, as they felt the character was being misrepresented. While I confess I think this is simply a backlash of his guilt over what had happened and he is making a bad decision as a result, I still think there are endless possibilities for the character to go from this point forward. My guess is that some already realized that the overall theme I thought of was „ghost of our past“ and Ward ist he perfect character to cement this potential storyline. I would love to see John Garrett (Bill Paxton) return and similar to what I mentioned with Trip, it would make sense that Ward is still being haunted by the legacy left behind by Garrett. Have him in a running conflict with the ghost of his former mentor and father figure would allow the character to grow and maybe find the redemption he has been seeking for. To further bring that element forward I am sure that many Ward fans still remember the dog he may or may have not shot on behalf of Garrett. I have two possible stories that can come from this element. On the one side, the dog could be another vision of the past that he is trying to get over as he is slowly led to whatever destiny awaits him, like the theory that he may potentially become Hellfire in Agents of SHIELD. On the other hand, I personally feel like the dog should reappear and represent his redemption, a ghost that still haunts him to this day and in the end we may actually find out if he did indeed shoot him or not. A way of allowing him to finally move on from the ghost of his past and start anew, maybe among those that he considered to be a family for quite some time or even as a renegade, an anti-hero walking his very own path towards the future.

There you have my thoughts on what potential storylines that can be explored in the next season in combination with elements that already have been hinted at. I still believe that the theme „ghost of your past“ could make a potentially intriguing storyline and also make it all feel much more personal as Agents of SHIELD evolvees as a show alongside its characters. Now all that is left is to wait throughout the summer to see what they truly have in store for us with the upcoming third season.

What are your thoughts on the matter? Did I miss anything? Any storylines you want to see happen in season three? Leave a comment below!