Agents of SHIELD: All the Characters We Want to See Return in the Final Season

The final season of Agents of SHIELD premiered earlier this week and featured the return of Patton Oswalt as one of the many Koenigs. We already know this season will also see an appearance by Enver Gjokaj, who will be reprising his role as Daniel Sousa from Agent Carter. Recently, Chloe Bennet (Daisy Johnson/Quake) teased that there will “definitely” be more surprise appearances in the final season. Considering the team is now time traveling, there are a vast amount of characters, living and dead, who could potentially show up again. We compiled a list of 17 characters who we’d like to see again on Agents of SHIELD, but honestly, we could have easily included twice as many names. Obviously, it’d be hard to squeeze all of these people into 13 episodes, but that’s not stopping us from being hopeful.

Over the course of the series, Agents of SHIELD has seen many guest stars, wonderful SHIELD agents, badass Inhumans, epic villains, memorable one-off characters, and much more. In a better world, our list would have included John Garrett (Bill Paxton) and Gideon Malick (Powers Boothe), but both actors have sadly passed away since appearing on the show. There are also some characters who we assume will be back based on where they left off at the end of season six. That list includes Agent Piper (Briana Venskus), Flint (Coy Stewart), Dr. Benson (Barry Shabaka Henley), and Snowflake (Brooke Williams). However, there’s no guarantee when time travel is involved!

Here are our top choices for cameo appearances for Agents of SHIELD‘s final season…

Lance Hunter (Nick Blood) and Bobbi Morse (Adrianne Palicki)

Nick Blood and Adrianne Palicki left Agents of SHIELD during the show’s third season in order to star in their own spin-off, Marvel’s Most Wanted. Unfortunately, the series was scrapped before it ever made it to air, and fans of the couple never saw them together again. However, Blood did make an extremely-welcomed cameo in the show’s fifth season when Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) needed help breaking out of prison while his friends were trapped in the future. 

Unfortunately, Palicki confirmed at a Comic-Con appearance that she wasn’t asked to return to the show. Based on her statement, we’re inclined to believe it’s true, however, we can’t help but hold out hope that she was throwing us off the scent. 

Grant Ward (Brett Dalton)

We’ve already made our feelings about Brett Dalton’s return clear. Yes, Grant Ward was a Hydra agent who killed a lot of people and made things extremely hard for our favorite agents, but he was such an important part of the show for so long. As someone who was there from day one, Dalton deserves one last hurrah on the series. After being killed off at the end of season three, Dalton did make another appearance on the show during season four’s Framework arc. While that was an admittedly perfect send-off for Ward, it couldn’t hurt to see Dalton’s handsome face one more time. 

Mike Peterson/Deathlok (J. August Richards)

J. August Richards appeared in the show’s series premiere as Mike Peterson and soon evolved into Deathlok. The character had many tragedies befall him during season one, but returned in season two for three episodes as a full-fledged hero. Richards made one more appearance in the show’s 100th episode during season five, and it looked like he might end up having a bigger role to play within SHIELD, but he hasn’t been seen since. Considering he’s still alive out there somewhere, it’d be nice to have a proper send-off for a character who is such an integral part of the show’s history. 

Antoine Triplett (B.J. Britt)

Most of the fandom will agree that B.J. Britt’s exit from the series was one of the most devastating. Trip died during the Battle for the Kree City in the show’s second season while trying to save Daisy (then Skye) from the Terrigen Mist. Of course, Daisy became an Inhuman while Trip was tragically turned to dust. Like Dalton, Britt made a fun cameo appearance during the show’s Framework arc, but that was three years ago, so we’re long overdue to see more of that Trip charm. 

Lincoln Campbell (Luke Mitchell)

There are a lot of Laisy shippers out there who wouldn’t mind seeing Luke Mitchell’s Lincoln Campbell reunite with Daisy. As one of the show’s most prominent Inhumans, Lincoln was an important bridge between SHIELD and powered people. Sure, he had some anger issues, but we really came around on him when he refused to join Hive with the swayed Daisy. He also heroically sacrificed himself to save her, which is something we’ll always be grateful for.  Since the character didn’t get a reprise in the Framework, it’d be nice to see the Secret Warrior again.

Jeffrey Mace (Jason O’Mara)

Serving briefly as Director in season four, it took a while for fans to know how to feel about Jason O’Mara’s Jeffrey Mace. It was unclear whether or not he was trustworthy, and while it was eventually revealed that he was lying about being Inhuman, the team comes to understand that his intentions were good and that he only wanted to be a part of the team (because “a team that trusts, is a team that triumphs”). Sadly, Mace didn’t make it out of the Framework alive, sacrificing himself to save a bunch of kids who were being held captive by Hydra. Surely, no one would be mad about getting another glimpse of The Patriot. 

Ghost Rider/Robbie Reyes (Gabriel Luna)

We’re still pretty upset that Gabriel Luna’s Ghost Rider spin-off was canceled before it ever even began, which means the fandom deserves to get at least one more glimpse at his version of Robbie Reyes. The character (characters?) had his/their own legendary arc during the show’s fourth season and after Ghost Rider made his deal with Coulson, Robbie left to continue their journey of vengeance. Robbie was mentioned a couple of times last season, but we haven’t seen him since season four. 

Cal Johnson (Kyle MacLachlan) and Jiaying (Dichen Lachman)

Although Daisy’s parents haven’t been seen since the second season, they are such a memorable part of the series. Kyle MacLachlan gave one of the show’s best performances as the unhinged (but weirdly loveable) Cal, and Dichen Lachman’s stoic and fierce portrayal as Jiaying made her one of the show’s greatest big bads. Jiaying died at the end of season two and Cal went through the T.A.H.I.T.I. program, but there are so many moments in history that could feature one or both of the characters (especially since Jiaying had been around for a long time prior to her death). Also, Lachman is best friends with showrunner Maurissa Tancharoen, so it feels likely that she could show up again. 

Agent Davis (Maximilian Osinski)

If you’re going to bring back Dichen Lachman, you also need to invite her real-life husband Maximilian Osinski. Osinski portrayed Agent Davis throughout the entire series’ run, appearing in one episode in the first season before becoming a more prominent agent in seasons four through six. In fact, Davis became a major player last season when he accompanied Daisy and Jemma (Elizabeth Henstridge) on their deep space quest to find Fitz. Of all the deaths on Agents of SHIELD, Davis’ was one of the most shocking and unexpected. Sadly, he was forced to jump to his own death when Izel (Karolina Wydra) took over his body. Most of the fandom will agree that we need to see Davis again to find out how he got that scar from AIDA. 

General Glenn Talbot (Adrian Pasdar)

Adrian Pasdar’s Glenn Talbot has been a huge staple in Agents of SHIELD, appearing in every season except for the last one. The character provided some much-needed comic relief, and always served as light-hearted opposition to Coulson. Sadly, after Talbot was shot in the head by an LMD in season four, he was taken by Hydra, which only made his brain injury worse. After taking on the gravitonium towards the end of season five, Talbot became the season’s big bad and sadly lost himself in the power. He didn’t survive his big battle with Daisy, but it’d be great to see the old Talbot back before the show is done. 

Joey Gutierrez (Juan Pablo Raba)

What the heck happened to Joey!? One of the first Inhumans to team up with SHIELD, Joey wasn’t only a badass Secret Warrior with the power to control metal, he was also the show’s first prominent LGBTQ character. For his brief time on the series, it was exciting to see a gay man be a hero on network television. It’s a shame he didn’t stick around, especially since the lack of queer content is my only major complaint about the series. After the drama with Hive, it’s no surprise Joey wanted to go off and live his life, but it’d be nice to know what he’s been up to for the last four years.

Holden Radcliffe (John Hannah) and AIDA (Mallory Jansen)

John Hannah’s Holden Radcliffe was a complicated man. Yes, he created AIDA (Mallory Jansen), the Framework, and did some pretty terrible things in order to get the Darkhold, but you can’t help but love him. In the end, he came through for FitzSimmons when he ultimately gave up the chance to be remade in the real world in order to save them. He provided a lot of laughs, and it’d be enjoyable to see him try and talk his way out of a tough situation one last time. 

You obviously can’t have Radcliffe without AIDA/Madame Hydra/Ophelia. The season four villain was easily the series’ best big bad, and it would be a shame if we didn’t get to see her again. After controlling the agents in the Framework and messing things up for FitzSimmons, AIDA succeeded in completing “Project Looking Glass” and was able to shed her andriod restraints to become a real person in the real world. Unfortunately, when Fitz chose Jemma over her, AIDA lost control and went on a killing spree. She gave herself a multitude of Inhuman powers, so it took Ghost Rider to take her down in the end. 

Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell)

Since Enver Gjokaj will be reprising his role as Daniel Sousa from Agent Carter, we can’t help but hope we’ll be seeing Hayley Atwell’s Peggy Carter once again. Atwell appeared in two flashbacks during Agents of SHIELD‘s second season, so it would be incredibly fun to get to see her interact with the present-day agents for the first time. Considering Agent Carter was tragically canceled after its second season, people are dying to see some closure between Sousa and Cater. In a recent interview, showrunner Jed Whedon teased that some Sousa-related loose ends would be tied up during his appearance. 

Vijay Nadeer (Manish Dayal)

Manish Dayal only played Vijay Nadeer for three episodes in season four, so he may seem like an odd choice for a list that left out some major players, for example, Ruth Negga’s Raina (she’s an Academy Award nominee who unexpectedly showed up again in season five… We don’t want to be greedy). However, Vijay is one of the only Agents of SHIELD loose ends. Vijay remained in his Terrigenesis cocoon for months until Jemma helped set him free. Unfortunately, Vijay’s sister, Senator Ellen Nadeer (Parminder Nagra), was extremely prejudiced against Inhumans, so she shot him and threw him out of a helicopter. However, that episode ended with Vijay undergoing Terrigenesis once again at the bottom of the ocean. We want to know what happened! 

Are there any other Agents of SHIELD characters you’d like to see in the final season? Maybe Victoria Hand (Saffron Burrows), Ruby (Dove Cameron), Sequoia (Maurissa Tancharoen), or one of the countless other great characters? Tell us in the comments or tweet to @JamieCinematics!