'Agents Of SHIELD': Clark Gregg Teases Coulson's Debt To Ghost Rider

In the previous season of Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD, Phil Coulson made a deal with the devil, [...]

In the previous season of Marvel's Agents of SHIELD, Phil Coulson made a deal with the devil, and the devil expects his due.

In order to defeat the rogue life model decoy called AIDA, Phil Coulson made a deal to become possessed by the Ghost Rider, the spirit of vengeance that usually calls the body of Robbie Reyes his home. In the finale, a conversation between Robbie and Coulson made it clear that the Ghost Rider doesn't do favors for free.

So far, Coulson hasn't told his SHIELD agents anything about this deal or what he owes the Ghost Rider, but star Clark Gregg teased to ComicBook.com that payment would come due in the show's upcoming fifth season.

"What I would say is the deal he made with Ghost Rider at the end of season four, that debt will come due at some point and I think it just raises the stakes on everything going forward," Gregg said.

That's hardly the only problem facing the agents of SHIELD this season as the team deals with its new outer space setting.

"They're suddenly thrown into this world that they don't know anything about, that seems kind of savage," Gregg says. "One of the reasons I love this season is I love sci-fi and I feel like we get into a world that has elements of everything from Snowpiercer to Delicatessen and Silent Running and a lot of cool sci-fi like that. So they're suddenly in a world that they don't run and they don't have those kind of powers and have great limitations and they're separated to a certain extent. So finding a way to reestablish themselves as a team is a big, big part of the beginning."

Marvel Television head Jeph Loeb adds, "Up until this point, we've told the audience, or the characters know [what they're doing]. The Framework is a perfect example, they knew what the Framework was, they agreed to go into the Framework and then they had to deal with the Framework – so they're ahead of you. So this is the first time where what we did is everyone starts at the same place. Like they don't know where they are; we don't know where they are."

The team will begin their adjustment period when Marvel's Agents of SHIELD returns with its two-hour season five premiere on December 1st at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

Additional reporting by Scott Huver.

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