The longest-running television series in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Agents of SHIELD, wrapped up after season 7. In 2013, Marvel Television launched its first MCU spinoff TV series. The first seasons of Agents of SHIELD tied in closely to the mainstream MCU, but as the years passed the show increasingly blazed its own trail. According to third-party analytics Agents of SHIELD remained more popular than any other Marvel Television series, including the classic Marvel Netflix shows.

ABC came close to canceling Agents of SHIELD after season 4, but they were reportedly asked to renew it for a fifth season by Disney. Season 5 tied into Avengers: Infinity War, with Marvel Television clearly expecting it to be the end of the road for Agents of SHIELD—and they went to great lengths to wrap up the story in a satisfying way, with the season 5 finale even bearing the title “The End.” Instead, ABC offered Marvel two more abbreviated seasons, which—however enjoyable for viewers—led to major continuity problems. The relationship between Marvel Television and Marvel Studios had become a lot more distant over the years, and the writers and showrunners of Agents of SHIELD had no idea how Thanos’ snap was going to be resolved. Marvel Television’s only choice was to ignore the snap, acting as though every story they told took place before it happened.

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In the end, Marvel canceled Agents of SHIELD, not ABC. According to Marvel Television chief Jeph Loeb, when ABC president Channing Dungey offered Marvel season 7, the creative team sat down to decide the show’s future. “We all came to the conclusion that getting another season is so flattering, so lovely, so amazing,” Loeb observed, “but how about if we go back and say, yes, but this is it.” Marvel had recently experienced a number of high-profile cancelations, with Netflix pulling the plug on shows like Daredevil, Luke Cage, and Jessica Jones, and this time they seem to have wanted to end a show on its own terms.

Agents of SHIELD season 7 used time travel as something of a “Last Hurrah” for the show, with SHIELD’s enemies attempting to rewrite history to neutralize them in the present day. Amusingly, the show’s temporal mechanics were more consistent than the MCU’s—even now—and it ultimately dove into the multiverse, predicting the direction of the MCU’s Phase 4. It ended with a hopeful and optimistic glimpse of the future, showing the various members of the SHIELD team enjoying their own personal “Happily Ever Afters.”

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This doesn’t necessarily mean the cast and crew of Agents of SHIELD will never return, of course. Marvel Studios has recently begun bringing back some of the best actors hired by Marvel Television, with Charlie Cox reprising the role of Daredevil and Vincent D’Onofrio returning as the Kingpin. It’s currently impossible to say whether the actors are playing a continuation of their old roles or whether Marvel is instead conducting a soft reboot. Still, it certainly raises the possibility some of Agents of SHIELD‘s cast could return as well, with Chloe Bennet perhaps given the chance to play Quake again.

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Thomas Bacon
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Tom Bacon is one of Screen Rant’s staff writers, as well as a Peer Mentor for new writers and a member of the Care Team, offering support and a listening ear to members of the Comics group. A lifelong fan of major franchises including Star Wars, Doctor Who, and Marvel, Tom is delighted his childhood is back – and this time it’s cool. You can find him on Twitter @TomABacon.

A graduate of Edge Hill University, Tom remains strongly connected with his alma mater as a volunteer chaplain. He’s heavily involved with his local church, and anyone who checks him out on Twitter will swiftly learn he’s into British politics too.

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