What To Expect From ‘Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.’

VIA: Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. debuts tomorrow, and the hype is pretty thick. But what can we actually expect from the show? Here’s what we know about it, going in.

They’re Willing To Come Up With New Characters

Surprisingly, J. August Richards, who we speculated was getting the role of Luke Cage, and who one of our commenters pointed out might also be Rage of the New Warriors, is apparently going to be neither. According to official plot summaries, the former Gunn will actually be an average Joe named Mike Petersen. While we’re sure more obscure Marvel characters will show up, apparently this might also be a tool to help expand the Marvel U. Or just give Joss Whedon’s friends more jobs.

There’s A Lot Of The Buffy and Angel Crew Involved. Also Spartacus.

The first three episodes will have a lot of names familiar to Buffyverse fans; Maurissa Tancharoen is credited as a writer on the first three episodes, as well as Jed Whedon, and prolific Angel writer Jeffrey Bell has so far been credited for one episode. Director David Solomon has tackled an episode, and you can probably expect a lot more names from previous Joss Whedon shows to crop up as the series progresses.

You Won’t Be Seeing A Lot Of The Avengers

While Cobie Smulders will be returning as Maria Hill, Whedon has admitted more than once that the Avengers crew is generally too expensive for cameos. But apparently the pilot refers to them quite a bit, so there is that.

ABC Is Going To Keep Things Tightly Under Wraps

ABC has been surprisingly tight-lipped about details on the show, which makes it seem pretty likely that they want to keep some surprises, well, a surprise. One assumes, since Thor: The Dark World is on the way in November, that the series will tie into it. But expect that tight-lipped tendency to last for the entire season; ABC really wants you to tune in.