Agents of SHIELD’s Henry Simmons Explains Why Mack Is His Favorite Character He’s Played

Henry Simmons, who plays Mack on Agents of SHIELD, recently spoke with Collider in honor of the series' final season and shared everything from what it's been like to go from mechanic to field agent to the Director of SHIELD to his thoughts on the series finale. Simmons has had many roles throughout his career, most notably playing Det. Baldwin Jones on NYBD Blue. However, the actor recently revealed that Mack is his favorite role he's ever played.

"Whenever you do a job, the character always stays with you, in some way, shape or form," Simmons explained. "It does take time. By now, I'm out of it, but it took me a little bit to put it down. We finished in July, and for that reason, I didn't take any jobs for the rest of 2019. I said, 'I wanna spend time with my family.' Doing the duties of a father and a husband, and having my life back with my family, got me out of it much quicker. It's one of my favorite characters, and maybe the most favorite that I've ever played because there was a range of things, with comedy, action, drama and so many things, involved in that character and the progression of the character. It actually is my favorite character that I've ever played."

"Without a doubt," Simmons replied when Collider asked, "What actor doesn't want to be a part of telling a superhero story?" Simmons added, "Every day, stepping on set was fun. You dress up and get to carry a shotgun-axe. It was like I was a kid again." In fact, Simmons shared that he got to keep his famous weapon from the series.

"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."

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