Following the third season finale of Marvel’s Agent of SHIELD, fans are wondering who will become the new Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. following Phil Coulson’s leave.
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The finale’s last moments confirmed that Coulson (Clark Gregg) had quit acting as Director and was tracking down Quake (Chloe Bennet) who went rogue after Lincoln (Luke Mitchell) tragically sacrificed himself to kill Hive (Brett Dalton).
According to Clack Gregg, Coulson’s demotion came as a shock. Speaking to EW, Gregg said, “I wasn’t pissed about it at all. They had an episode very early on after he was made director that said heavy is the head that wears the crown. I think that’s true. It was a job he was given. Maybe in the back of his mind he dreamed of being the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. someday, but it wasn’t his lifelong dream.”
Given the recent power struggle in the Marvel Universe following Captain America: Civil War, S.H.I.E.L.D will likely have its power challenged as it clashes with new, strict government oversights. When asked if he knew who the organization’s new director will be, Gregg revealed that he wasn’t told.
“I was not given a clear answer,” he said. “I suspect, in the wake of the Sokovia Accords and the end of Civil War, the people involved in choosing who the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. will be are other than in-house S.H.I.E.L.D. people. If I know my government bureaucracies, I have a feeling it will be someone somewhat less qualified than Coulson to run S.H.I.E.L.D.”
However, if Gregg could choose, he knows who he’d have fill the position: Agent Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen). Gregg said, “I’d love it if it was [her]. That would be magnificent. She has earned that right and she is a commander that Coulson would absolutely follow with absolute loyalty.”
While it’s unlikely that an in-house agent could take the Director’s seat following Captain America: Civil War, fans can still hope that Melinda May might inherit Nick Fury’s old job and lead S.H.I.E.L.D. into a new, uncertain future.
Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD is slated to return to ABC this Fall.
