ABCIt's time to stop referring to him as Ward 2.0 and start calling Brett Dalton by his new Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. character's name, Hive—and in tonight's new episode of the ABC series, we're going to see a whole lot more of him.
So, who is Hive, exactly? His comic-books predecessor is a tentacled identity-less creation of Hydra, meant to physically embody the villainous organizations ideals, composed of countless genetically-engineered parasites. Naturally, that's a far cry from Dalton's appearance—and a tweak on how Gideon Malick (Powers Boothe) described the character to Ward last fall. In the show's world, Hive is an ancient Inhuman—the first, in fact—with powers and a mission unlike anything we've seen before. Until tonight, that is.
During a visit to the set, Dalton admitted to reporters that he doesn't see Hive as a "straightforward villain," but rather "a reinvention of the character" that the show's drawing upon. "You will see he actually does have a philosophy about what the world could be now that he's there, and it's quite inclusive, actually," he explained. "It's not about taking over the world and doing all of that stuff, as cool as that is to do. There actually is something there that might be, I would say, in a shade of grey. But it is a combination between the two. This is a centuries-old being..."
While you will certainly see what Hive is capable of in tonight's hour—and trust us when we say, it's intense, terrifying, and might make you a little itchy—don't expect to get any clarification on the totality of his abilities too soon. Executive producers Jeffrey Bell and Maurissa Tancharoen were typically tight-lipped during the set visit, thought the did offer a few tantalizing teases about the character. "I think I can say this without spoiling anything," Bell said. "If he was something on the planet that then embodied Will on the planet, and then after Will died, he then embodied Ward, and when he was Will, he was able to have memories of Will, there's a fill-in-the-blank sort of conclusion I think that you can take from that."
"Or you just think of the word Hive," Tancharoen added. "What does Hive mean? Hive-minded. Things like that."
If we're picking up what they're laying down, does this mean that when our heroes come face-to-face with Hive, there's a chance for interaction with the fallen foe the ancient Inhuman has absorbed? "I think we're very interested in seeing how our team will respond, eventually, if they happen to cross paths," Tancharoen teased. "How they will respond to seeing the man they all know and hate still standing. And if he does have Ward's memories or parts of Ward's personality, how then that will play into scenes with our characters."
That moment will likely be especially loaded for Coulson (Clark Gregg) and Fitz (Iain De Caestecker), considering they were the last two people to see Ward alive over on Maveth, and the actors behind those characters certainly agree. "If the show was at 11pm at night, he'd probably go, "F--king hell," but since he won't, he'd probably go, "Oh sh—," and not actually swear," De Caestecker joked. "It would be very confusing since he saw him die and there's all those different conflicting emotions that surround that character and his face for a long time, so it would all boil up to the surface, I think."
Though Gregg admits that coming face-to-face with Hive would be "pretty startling" for Coulson, he's just enjoying the presence of the character on the show. "He's the perfect villain for this show because he carries with him the memories, desire, hatreds and agendas of Will and of Grant Ward," he said. "At the same time, he's got a much deeper, bigger agenda that's thousands of years old, and gave birth to Hydra. The whole runner about what it was on this planet and what it has meant in this multi-generational story of Hydra, I think is insanely cool. I never had any idea—maybe no one did—that the Hydra logo might represent Hive."
It's safe to say none of us had that idea, either. For more Marvel-sized twists and turns, well, you're just going to have to tune in.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on ABC.