Agents of SHIELD: James Paxton Perfectly Tackles Bill Paxton’s Former Role

Tonight’s Agents of SHIELD saw the long-awaited return of John Garrett, the series’ very first big bad. The role was originated by Bill Paxton, who sadly passed away in 2017. Thanks to the teams’ time travel adventures, the show was able to bring back Garrett in the most perfect way. In 1983, Nathanial Malick (Thomas E. Sullivan) decided to team up with Garrett, and since it’s a much younger version of the character, the show was able to cast Paxton’s son, James Paxton. Not only was it great to see the original villain back in action, but the younger Paxton could not have done a better job embodying his father.

It wasn’t much of a stretch seeing James as Garrett considering he inherited some of dad’s features, especially his smile. However, he also did an impressive job with the acting, perfectly capturing the sly charm that made Garrett so much fun. It was also great to see Coulson (Clark Gregg) come face to face with his first major adversary from the series, hilariously joking that they’re going through his “greatest hits.” Garrett is even shown his future with SHIELD, which means he’s able to reference some great moments from the show’s first season.

While it’s lovely for fans of both Agents of SHIELD and Bill Paxton, Garrett’s return isn’t exactly great for our band of heroes. Malick stole Daisy’s Inhuman powers and now he’s doing the same for Garrett. The character’s upgrade includes Gordon’s teleportation powers, which will certainly spell trouble.

Considering Garrett has now joined forces with Malick long before he betrayed SHIELD for Hydra, we can’t help but wonder if that will mean an appearance by Grant Ward (Brett Dalton) before the show is done. Back in the Framework, Ward was a good guy because he was trained by Victor Hand instead of Garrett. That could mean he’ll turn out good in this timeline, too. While there’s been no word on whether or not Ward will be showing up one last time, he is on our list of characters we’d like to see again.

With only three episodes left of the series, we’re eager to see how things will come together for the team. Based on this week’s ending, we can count on another appearance from Paxton, who truly could not have done a better job honoring his father. Nice work, James, and thanks for taking on the role!

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