Agents of SHIELD: Clark Gregg and EPs Talk James Paxton Reprising His Father’s Role

Agents of SHIELD came to an end this week and the two-part series finale proved to be the perfect send-off for the Marvel show. There were tons of fun callbacks to previous seasons while the team was time traveling, but nothing was quite as excellent as getting to see James Paxton play young John Garret, the character played by Bill Paxton back in season one. Not only did Paxton do an amazing job of stepping into his late father’s shoes, but the penultimate episode was able to take the character to some exciting new places. During a recent round of interviews, the Agents of SHIELD showrunners revealed how James came to play the role, and Clark Gregg (Phil Coulson) opened up about the experience.

“He actually auditioned for a role earlier in the season and we went, ‘Hmm…’ And that storyline came out of seeing him on screen and your gears start turning and you’re like, ‘I think he could do it,’ and he totally did,” Jed Whedon explained.

“That was a complex experience because on the one hand, I’m just still not over losing Bill Paxton,” Gregg shared. “We had so much fun with him. I loved him so much. He was such a joy to be around and the guy had such incredible stories that every workday with him felt like it went by very fast. To see James show up was kind of a mixed bag. It was very emotional, but also James is one of the sweetest kids and really knocked it out of the park. It’s been really a joy. Every time I’m annoyed by anything on social media, I remember there are other parts of it where I get to see people freaking out about watching him bring Garrett back. The people realizing halfway through that they’re related. It was such a joy to have him around. Such a sweet guy and a really special actor.”

He added, “If you think about it.. if you’re playing like a younger version of your icon dad, I’m going to show up and I’m going to be timid. You know what I mean? Like, ‘Well, I’m going to try to do a few little things here and there to try to make it…’ He just showed up. Garrett wasn’t like that. He just showed up just leaving it on the floor from the first moment in such a gutsy way.”

Chloe Bennet (Daisy “Quake” Johnson) also commented on Paxton’s appearance. “He’s such a special kid. It was really, really special to have him come back and watching people realize that that was his son was really fun also.”

The first six seasons of Agents of SHIELD are currently streaming on Netflix, and the series finale is available to watch on Hulu.