Development In January 2017, ahead of the
mid-season premiere of the
fourth season of
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,
ABC's
Channing Dungey said that she was "very
bullish" about
S.H.I.E.L.D.s future, feeling that "the episodes just keep getting better and stronger". The series was renewed for a fifth season of 22 episodes on May 11, with ABC looking to lower the cost of the series moving forward, by reducing its budget and licensing fee. Asked whether she had considered giving the season a shorter episode order, Dungey noted that every season of the series had been 22 episodes long, and she felt its prior success in delayed viewership and overseas justified continuing that. She added that the "show has continued to grow creatively every season. I feel like last season [was] its strongest creatively yet. I'm very excited for what we have planned for Season 5." It was reported that
Disney, the parent company of
Marvel Television,
ABC Studios, and ABC, had given a mandate to ABC to renew
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. "despite the desire by some at the network to end the series".
Writing In May 2017, ahead of the fifth season renewal,
showrunner and executive producer
Jed Whedon said the writers were not sure what would happen in the season, and that it would be "by the seat of our pants". The season explores the ramifications of
Phil Coulson making a deal with
Ghost Rider at the end of the previous season, as well as the groundwork laid by
Aida for humans to fear
S.H.I.E.L.D. and
Inhumans. Whedon stated, "The public perception of S.H.I.E.L.D. is at an all-time low, so we have not resolved that, and there will be still more fallout from it." Moving beyond the Framework reality established at the end of season four, Tancharoen said the emotional impact from the characters' experiences would "be something that resonates throughout the season", especially for Fitz and Mack. When asked if the season would be broken into pods as with season four, executive producer
Jeffrey Bell said, "A 22-episode arc is a lot for people to hold onto. By breaking it up into either smaller arcs or different pods, by introducing a set of antagonists and putting them down, or moving from space to space, our experience has been that it's something the viewers enjoy, and it makes it a little easier to digest when you're telling some of these stories." However, Whedon noted that it would depend on how the season would be aired as to where the story is broken up. The season ultimately was broken into two pod story arcs, with each pod having a different emphases, but the whole season having an arc "that will pay off". The writers for the season began work at the end of May 2017.
First pod The first pod of the season was informally referred to by the production team as
S.H.I.E.L.D. in Space. The original impetus for the season was to give the team a new base to operate out of, which became the
Lighthouse. From this, a "cold pitch" idea for the end tag of season four was that Coulson would be in space. After this was pursued for the season, it was realized that "getting to space was such a cool reveal that you didn't have another cool reveal after that", so it was further developed to be Earth in the future. Ahead of the season premiere, executive producer
Maurissa Tancharoen said that "every year we reset the series, and this year we definitely knew that it would be the most giant reset to date [with the characters going to space]. Just creatively across the board for everyone, art direction, all of it, our sets, you'll see an overhaul." On the move to space, Whedon commented, "Last year was about tearing everybody apart. We spent a lot of time doing that ... So our goal this year was... putting [this] family together in an intense situation [that] will end up causing drama internally, inevitably... we've spent this many years with them, let's throw them on the craziest roller coaster adventure we could think of." The writers were having trouble keeping track of the events in the season until a diagram was created for the time loop. The main characters eventually return home to their time period.
Second pod The second pod of the season includes the series' 100th episode, which Whedon and Tancharoen described as a "game changer" that would "shake up" the rest of the pod emotionally, to the point that "nothing will be the same after" it. Bell added the episode featured "a device that grows out of our current storyline and plot that allows us to look back and reflect on where we've come from, turn over a couple cards that people will be excited about and then also celebrate the show and people on it". Loeb also felt the episode "finishes up some stories that perhaps [viewers] didn't even know we haven't revealed". The episode featured Fitz and Simmons getting married, which Tancharoen said was included because "it was about damn time. After 100 episodes, they needed to get married." Coulson's deal with Ghost Rider was also revealed, which was to have the Kree serum that revived him after his death be burned off, resulting in his chest wound slowly killing him. Whedon said that Coulson has "come to terms with it. It's something he actually had to come to terms with a long time ago when he was discovering the T.A.H.I.T.I. Project and everything that had been done to him. I don't think he wants to go through any of that again. He's ready for nature to take its course... he seems as much at peace with it as you can be considering there's so much he's done in a world that thinks he's dead." At the end of February 2018, the writers were planning the end of the pod, and were planning for the final episode to be able to serve as both a season and series finale, with some elements that could be adjusted based on whether the series was renewed for a sixth season or not. Whedon added, "we're ready for if this is the end. We're definitely going to make it rewarding either way." The season ends with the agents having to make a choice between Coulson's life or saving the world, which was "where we were always going" when the showrunners were plotting out the season. By killing Fitz in "The End", but revealing there was another still in space journeying to the future, Bell noted it helped solve "the one time loop problem we had". Whedon explained when deciding when to bring the characters back to the present, it was discussed to have them return to the diner where they were taken, but Fitz would still be there, so the group was brought back after Fitz left to avoid that problem, which "became this great opportunity. What we realized is the thing that would weirdly have the most impact, one of the most painful things that you can experience, could be then experienced and then, not brought back, but a loophole could be revealed." The showrunners spoke to not including a bonus scene at the end of "The End" to tease what would come, Tancharoen said, "We felt like it needed to end in Tahiti. To take away from that would be wrong." Bell added, "It's also, emotionally, about the two senior members of the team, who in a sense have retired to Tahiti, and there they are watching the future of S.H.I.E.L.D. fly off into a new adventure... It felt like a nice, succinct ending." Coulson's journey was always meant to end at Tahiti, something the showrunners revealed was decided since the start of the series. Whedon explained, "We thought it was a beautiful image... It's one of the things where you don't overthink it. We latched onto that and went, 'That will be great.' It's an emotional thing for him. We even heard from Mike Peterson that this was something he always wanted. Our big mystery in episode 1 was, 'Never been to Tahiti.' He doesn't know, and he can never know. And here he is, finding some sort of peace on that beach. We love that image and we were solid on it all the way."
Casting Main cast members
Clark Gregg,
Ming-Na Wen,
Chloe Bennet,
Iain De Caestecker,
Elizabeth Henstridge, and
Henry Simmons return from previous seasons as
Phil Coulson,
Melinda May,
Daisy Johnson / Quake,
Leo Fitz,
Jemma Simmons, and
Alphonso "Mack" Mackenzie, respectively. Before the 2017
New York Comic Con, it was revealed that
Natalia Cordova-Buckley had been promoted to series regular for the season, after recurring in the past two seasons as
Elena "Yo-Yo" Rodriguez. De Caestecker also portrays "The Doctor", the version of Fitz from the Framework reality. In September 2017, former series regular
Nick Blood was announced as returning to reprise his role of
Lance Hunter. Blood left the series during the
third season, to star in the spin-off series ''
Marvel's Most Wanted, which never came to fruition. Adrianne Palicki, who portrayed Bobbi Morse and also left in the third season for Most Wanted'' with Blood, expressed interest in October 2017 in returning to guest star in the season, saying she "would absolutely come back" if asked. Also returning from earlier in the series are
Joel Stoffer as
Enoch, who was simply credited as "silhouetted man" in his previous appearance, and
Lola Glaudini as
Polly Hinton. Polly's daughter
Robin Hinton also appears, portrayed by multiple actresses, after the character made an uncredited appearance in "
Ascension":
Lexy Kolker appears as 7-year-old Robin,
Ava Kolker appears as 12-year-old Robin, and Willow Hale appears as an older Robin, when she is also known as The Seer.
Adrian Pasdar reprises his role as
Glenn Talbot, while also becoming the villain Graviton in the season. This is despite the series introducing
Franklin Hall (portrayed by
Ian Hart) in the first season, who goes on to become the villain in the comics. Additional returning actors include
Brian Patrick Wade as
Carl Creel,
J. August Richards as
Mike Peterson / Deathlok,
Spencer Treat Clark as
Werner von Strucker,
Zach McGowan as
Anton Ivanov / The Superior,
Reed Diamond as
Daniel Whitehall, and Raquel Gardner as
Carla Talbot, along with
Briana Venskus and
Maximilian Osinski as S.H.I.E.L.D. agents
Piper and
Davis.
Ruth Negga and
David Conrad reprise their roles as
Raina and
Ian Quinn, respectively, in a flashback sequence set during the events of the season one finale, "
Beginning of the End". The characters
Lash and
Hive return from earlier seasons for the series' 100th episode. Younger versions of
Jasper Sitwell and
Wolfgang von Strucker also appear, portrayed by Adam Faison and Joey Defore, respectively. Older versions of the characters had been respectively portrayed by
Maximiliano Hernández (in the MCU films and first season of the series) and
Thomas Kretschmann (in the MCU films).
Jeff Ward was cast in a recurring role in August 2017, and was revealed in October to be portraying
Deke Shaw. Ward had originally been cast as
Virgil, a character who dies in the first episode. During the
table read of the episode, the main cast felt Ward "nailed it" as Virgil and wanted him to stay on as Deke, who had not yet been cast. The producers reached out to Ward after the reading to audition for Deke, and was ultimately cast in the part. Also in October, other newcomers were revealed, with
Eve Harlow as
Tess,
Coy Stewart as
Flint, and
Pruitt Taylor Vince as
Grill. The next month, Marvel revealed that
Dove Cameron had joined the season in an unspecified role, which was revealed in January 2018 to be the character
Ruby, the daughter of
Catherine Dent's General Hale. Other recurring guests for the season include
Dominic Rains as
Kasius,
Florence Faivre as
Sinara, Jay Hunter as a
Kree watch commander, Tunisha Hubbard as
Ava, Shontae Saldana as
Candice Lee, and
Peter Mensah as
Qovas.
Design After leaving the series during the fourth season, costume designer Ann Foley returned for the first two episodes of the fifth season, before handing over to Whitney Galitz, who had assisted her on the previous few seasons, and Christann Chanell. The opening for "
Orientation" is reminiscent of the sequence for "
4,722 Hours", forgoing the title card and having the typeface silently fading onto the screen. The subsequent episodes of the season feature a title card with the series name in a new typeface against a backdrop of various depictions of Earth: episodes through "
Past Life" feature a destroyed future Earth; episodes from "
Principia" through "
The Devil Complex" feature a present Earth; while episodes from "
Rise and Shine" through "
All Roads Lead..." feature the Earth beginning to crack. The producers wanted Rodriguez's robot arms to have "a lot of dexterity" and did not want them to "look like robot hands", which "proved to be a lot trickier" for props master Scott Bauer to create. A silicon rubber was used to create a glove for Cordova-Buckley to wear, with 3D-printed plating attached to them, while gauntlets were added to cover the part of the glove that extended to the forearm. The gloves were created by the same company that created the robotic arm for
Misty Knight in
the second season of Luke Cage. By using the same company, Bauer felt they were able to expand upon the development and "headache" that went into creating Misty Knight's arm, to make a better, more comfortable and durable prop for Rodriguez.
Filming Filming for the season began on July 20, 2017. In May 2017, Gregg expressed interest in directing an episode in the season, and confirmed that September he would be directing an episode, which was the sixth of the season, "
Fun & Games". Gregg felt the idea of directing was "daunting" as he would need to be doing "five weeks of double duty", needing to act in addition to the various aspects of directing the episode. He reached out to fellow
S.H.I.E.L.D. directors
Kevin Tancharoen,
Billy Gierhart, and
Jesse Bochco to get tips on filming for the series. Bennet felt Gregg was able to bring out performances from the cast "that another director probably wouldn't have been able to because he knows the characters so well". Gregg added that he had "shorthand with [the other actors] about what we want to try to do, ways the script could give us a chance to push us into new territory. They all also have deep and interesting ideas that helped me." Gregg also received a deeper appreciation for some of the other departments on the series he normally does not encounter on a regular basis and the work they contribute to each episode. The scene for Fitz and Simmons' wedding in "The Real Deal" was filmed in "a very remote location" in
Placerita Canyon State Park. Filming for the season
wrapped on April 15, 2018.
Music Composer
Bear McCreary altered his score this season "into a synth-space-opera-fantasy". The music in the season was inspired by the films
Heavy Metal (1981),
The Black Hole (1979),
Blade Runner (1982),
Akira (1988), and
The Terminator (1984). Despite the increase of
synthesizers, McCreary kept his established symphonic writing and characters themes "as the foundation of the score". He felt the balance he looked to achieve between the synthesizers and classic orchestra was "epitomized" in his score for "The End".
Marvel Cinematic Universe tie-ins In terms of having connections to ''
Marvel's Inhumans'' (2017), Whedon felt it was doubtful, but noted "we also want there to be a bigger reward for people who watch all of [the MCU series], so they'll start to see that there's lines connecting it. It's more fun for people who are playing the whole game, but if you don't, you'll still have a great rollercoaster ride." In November 2017, Whedon said that the season would not have moved the characters to space if the recent MCU films like
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and
Thor: Ragnarok (both 2017) had not been exploring that part of the MCU, but that this would remain a "thematic tie". He explained that they had moved on from the overt tie-ins with the MCU films that the series utilized in earlier seasons because "we have our own mythology. That started to be much more interesting to us, and hopefully to the audience ... No one wants to come to see our show to see another show." Whedon added in March 2018 that the then-upcoming release of
Avengers: Infinity War (2018) would similarly "open a new playground" for the series to explore. The season features the Kree, an alien race that previously appeared in the first three seasons, and in the film
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014). The fictional element
gravitonium also returns, having first appeared in the
first season. It is revealed that the consciousnesses of
Franklin Hall and
Ian Quinn had been absorbed by the element, eventually merging with Talbot when he enters the Rebirth chamber and becomes Graviton. The last four episodes of the season are set during the events of
Infinity War, taking place over a single day and making references to the film; Whedon stated that there was an "unspoken Marvel rule not to address time" but that they considered the events of the series and film to roughly line up. In the episodes, the threat of
Thanos becomes the driving force of Talbot's character arc as he plans to join the
Avengers in defending the Earth. Bell also spoke to not directly referencing the end of
Infinity War in "
The End", by not showing any of the characters killed as a result of Thanos'
finger snap. He said "Part of what happened was, they changed the release date... we move at a different schedule than they do and so suddenly everything was a week earlier, and so we had to make some adjustments and that's how we end up with our story." Whedon continued, "the other thing is that there's certain story points that are so – there would really be no way for us to address it and keep our show intact. Given that there's
another movie coming out, and there's gonna be constant repercussions of their universe, so what we felt was that the safe play for our story, and for the integrity of our universe, was to operate outside of it." Whedon also added, "one of the things that we tried to do was even if we're just hinting at a crossover, our concept was to create motivation for our villain, for our antagonist – using the events of
Infinity War and using the larger MCU battle to sort of inform [Talbot's] motivation to become what he's becoming. That was our main tie-in, trying to drive our own antagonist. We felt like that was a good way to deal with it, but keep the things in world in our story." ==Marketing==