With the recent events on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the question of what’s going on with Agent Ward and if he’s truly a Hyrda agent has been a hot topic. With the evidence at hand, I feel I have a solid grip and theory on what we’ll see happen with Ward the rest of the season.
First off, in an interview Brett Dalton (Agent Ward) did with Marvel.com, he talks about the character and the changes and freedom that is given with going dark. That alone makes me feel that he is Hydra and has been. He’s a character that fans have been flaky on, and to hype up this new change/dynamic in the character and making it out as the greatest thing ever makes me feel he won’t be going back.
Marvel.com: Yeah, and what makes it so perfect like you say is that you played Ward so earnestly in those first 15 episodes that his turn came as an even greater shock. But which has been more fun for you? To play the good guy, or the bad guy?
Brett Dalton: Oh man, so much more fun to play the bad guy. So much more fun. Plus my scenes [are with] Bill Paxton, who I think just has more fun in general on set than I typically do. Sometimes I kind of just act [with my] nose to the ground and [just] do it. And this whole thing has just opened up a kind of levity to it, a kind of, I won’t even say freedom–I’d say fun is the right word. There’s a real joy to it, and it’s great.
Also in an interview with CBR did with executive producers Maurissa Tancharoen and Jed Whedon, they clearly speak on how they’ve been leaving breadcrumbs showing us Wards real side. Unless again, it’s a major swerve where they’re hyping up their own product, I don’t see it as a total misconception.
For as big as these twists are, they feel like they come from a logical place, and as you said there’s been a plan. How far back have you been planting some of these seeds? There was an episode called “Seeds” a couple of months ago, even. Have you been deliberately putting a lot of hints out there to lead to this point?
Tancharoen: Yes, we have. And I think it’ll be interesting for the viewer once they see the big reveal to go back and look at places where those seeds have been planted. In episode #10, there’s a nice, private moment that Ward has with Coulson — they’re in Lola, and I think they’re going to see a Centipede soldier’s sister, and they’re just having a conversation, finally, about their personal lives. Coulson brings up that he had someone in his past, a cellist, and that he had dinners at the Richmond, and that’s something that comes up later — that’s a tool that Raina uses to help coerce Coulson to get into the machine in episode #11.
And then in “Seeds,” there’s a really nice moment where Skye is standing at the wall of valor, and we hear Coulson’s voice off-camera saying that the world is full of evil, pain, lies and death — and the camera pans and lands on Ward when he says “lies” and “evil.”
The big question people have, and what they feel points to Ward being a double (or triple?) agent is the look that he and Coulson share as they’re marching Garret away along with the talk that he and Coulson had. I think people have a partial right idea on what happened, but are hoping for more than what it is.
When we see Coulson talking to Ward, I believe he is telling him that Garrett was Hydra, but that he was also the Clairvoyant, and that’s the key, and that’s what the look between the two of them is about. That he can’t believe that Garrett was the Clairvoyant, but doesn’t has no reason to question Coulson. Ward was clearly aware of Garrett being Hydra, you can gauge that from the difference in reaction he has versus that of Triplett. Triplett is full on rage mode against Garrett, which would be a more appropriate reaction, Ward looks almost confused, and while its assumed it’s from the full revelation of things, it all hinges on him now realizing that Garrett was the Clairvoyant. This was the man who was his CO, who recruited him to Hydra, but he didn’t realize he was the man behind the Clairvoyant, the man who ordered for Skye to be killed.
Remember, when we first heard about Bill Paxton being cast as Agent Garrett, it was said he would guest star in four episodes. Well the next episode is that fourth episode. On top of that, Bennett himself has confirmed on Twitter that he is in through the season finale.
Good news: we’re shooting our season finale and it’s going to be insane! Bad news: I can’t live Tweet. Sorry east coasters #agentproblems
— Brett Dalton (@IMBrettDalton) April 9, 2014
You can’t have a major reveal like the one we had in Turn, Turn, Turn and suddenly push it to the back burner, and you definitely can’t have Garrett, who has been revealed to be who we thought was the big bad all season, just get pushed to the side. When Coulson told Ward that Garrett was the Clairvoyant, something in Ward snapped, that’s why he volunteered to go with them, not to ensure Garrett’s safety, but to ultimately eliminate the man who put Skye’s life in jeopardy. Garrett himself has pointed out how Skye has changed Ward and how emotions now can get the best of him. It’s why Paxton was said to only be cast in 4 episodes, I don’t see him surviving through the end of next episode, and that is hinted at with that last shot of Ward, sitting and contemplating while listening the Garrett talk. With Garrett eliminated, this leads to Ward ultimately being our face to the Hydra threat, and who better than Ward to put a team together to face off against Coulsons?
Is this how it plays out? That Ward isn’t playing Garrett, but is in fact straight up a bad guy now? That’s the beauty of how things have played out, we don’t have a clue yet, but I can easily see the pieces falling into play for the rest of the season to play out just like that.
