Agents of SHIELD: Henry Simmons Got to Keep a Very Special Prop

Agents of SHIELD is ending after this season, but the show’s cast wrapped up production nearly a year ago, which means they’ve had some time to reflect on the series’ end. Henry Simmons (Mack) recently spoke with Collider and shared what it’s been like to go from mechanic to field agent to the Director of SHIELD as well as his thoughts on Mack and Coulson’s dynamic. He also revealed that he really wanted to keep Mack’s signature weapon, the shotgun-axe. After being told he couldn’t have the prop, he ended up receiving a surprise in the mail.

“Every time people were like, ‘What is one thing that you want?’ I said, ‘I want the shotgun axe,’ but they weren’t able to give it to me, for whatever reason. I think they had to have it for something. I don’t know. And then, about a month after we wrapped, I got a call and they said, ‘Henry, is this your address?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, that’s me.’ And they said, ‘Okay, we wanna send you something.’ It was from a person in production. It wasn’t any of the producers, or the prop department. It was someone else. And then, about two days later, I had a shotgun-axe delivered to me. My wife was like, ‘What is that?’ I said, ‘This is my shotgun-axe,’ and she saw how happy I was. She was like, ‘You’re not gonna hang that thing in the living room.’ I was like, ‘No, no, no, no. I’m not that crazy.’ But I have to tell you, I was so overjoyed, having that. So, I have one of the shotgun axes.”

During the interview, Simmons also talked about his first day on set and what it was like to join the series in its second season. “The first day on the show, for me was a bit overwhelming, at times,” Simmons shared. “Not overwhelming from an actor’s standpoint, but from a personal standpoint. When I walked on, they didn’t have the episodes on Netflix, so I wasn’t able to see anything. I didn’t see the show and I didn’t know. So, my first day, there were 20 people on set, plus background people, and I didn’t know who was who. They were like, ‘Okay, Daisy’s gonna be over here, with FitzSimmons.’ And I was like, ‘Who’s he?’ And they were like, ‘That’s two people.’ And I was like, ‘Wait a minute, what?!’ I didn’t know who was who. And then, there was weaponry and the names of the weapons, and the names of the ships and carriers, and the recurring people. I was like, ‘My gosh, this is a completely different language, and I have to learn all of this.’ It was quite a bit. They did a fantastic job of having it work seamlessly, but at first, I was like, ‘My gosh, this is crazy.’”

Agents of SHIELD airs Wednesday nights on ABC at 10 PM EST.