‘Agents of SHIELD’: ABC Head Cautiously Optimistic About Season 6 Renewal

SHIELD may be stuck in a dystopian future right now, but the future for Agents of SHIELD is starting to look bright.

ABC head Channing Dungey spoke at a presentation during the winter TCA press tour. Dungey says she is “cautiously optimistic” about Agents of SHIELD‘s chances at renewal.

“It’s always hard at this point in January to know because some of it is also dependent on your new development and how you feel about those things, so that’s why it’s really hard at the top of the year to know exactly what’s going to happen,” she said in regards to SHIELD and its Friday night lead-in, Once Upon a Time.

“The thing about Once Upon a Time is that the ratings have been a little bit lower on Friday than they were on Sunday, but our delayed viewing, which we were averaging a bump of about 55 percent, this year has been into triple digits, so the actual fanbase really hasn’t shifted very much,” Dungey says. “It’s more that they’ve been watching it more time-shifted since we’ve been on Friday.”

Agents of SHIELD is also a show that’s often watched time-shifted. Like with Once Upon a Time, Dungey says the show’s future depends on what the creative team pitches.

“The creative this season, I honestly think, has been the strongest its ever been,” Dungey said. “We’ve been really excited about what the producers have been talking about for the second half of the season. I’m really looking forward to hearing them come in and talk about what their ideas would be for season 6, so we can make a better determination about whether we’re going to order another season or not.”

In February, Agents of SHIELD will hit a milestone with its 100th episode. Star Clark Gregg has teased that fans expecting something big won’t be disappointed.

“Fans who hope that a 100th episode will contain something that will be a cataclysmic event or a gigantically resonate event for their feels after 100 episodes will not be disappointed,” Gregg said.

Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD airs Fridays at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.