Marvel's Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. Showrunners Confirm Grant Ward Is Hive

02/29/2016 11:32 am EST

Showrunners Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen have confirmed that Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Grant Ward (Brett Dalton) has become the villainous entity known as Hive.

ComicBook.com originally reported the story after Dalton's co-star, Elizabeth Henstridge, referred to Ward as Hive in an exclusive interview. The Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.showrunners confirmed the reveal with Nerdist.

"As we saw in the midseason finale episode, Ward is back on Earth, but he's definitely not the same Ward who went through the portal to the alien world," Tancharoen and Whedon said.

ABC also released a new image of Ward's appearance in the second half of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 3.

As tends to be the case, the TV version of the character will be a bit different from the comic book version. The showrunners said their version "is going to have its own unique twist and be very different from what fans have seen so far. We will see similarities that pay homage to the original character, but fans will see that Hive is taking an exciting new direction in the world of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D."

In the comics, Hive is an entity created by Hydra. Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. introduced Hive as an Inhuman whom Hydra has been serving, so you can already see some divergence.

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. returns to ABC on March 8.

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