The cast of "Marvel's Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D." gathered for a special press conference and
Marvel presented the event with a liveblog. The Moderator for the online blog panel is Marvel.com Associate Editor Marc Strom. Below are highlights and questions asked of the cast, executive producers and co-creators. Attending the panel consist from the cast of Clark Gregg, Iain De Caestecker (Leo Fitz), Brett Dalton (Grant Ward), Ming-Na Wen (Melinda May), Chloe Bennet (Skye), Elizabeth Henstridge (Jemma Simmons), as well as Executive Producers/co-creators Joss Whedon, Jed Whedon, Maurissa Tancharoen, and Executive Producers Jeffrey Bell and Jeph Loeb!
- A new trailer was shown.
- The movie and the TV show are still be worked out on how they bounce off each other, but thats the bonus stuff. They don't want to detract from the main cast.
- The nature of Coulson's return will be talked about in time.
- The production team worked extra hard to make the pilot for the TV show as high of quality as the movie.
- Jeph Loeb commented that "It'll be awesome," when David Conrad shows up.
- Joss Whedon had a lot of creative freedom and lot of trust. He worked with Marvels producers together instead of against them for the show.
- Marvel and ABC have been very supportive of the vision that Joss, Jed and Maurissa first laid out.
- Joss Whedon is involved "As much as an Executive Producer can be who is also making a movie."
- Henstridge and De Caestecker speak in their own accents in the series than in an American one.
- The cast has an international flavor and Clark Gregg feels that's indicative of SHIELD's nature.
- ABC wanted people to be as interested in the characters as they are in the crisis of the week, so that was the emphasis.
- Clark Gregg found out about the TV show on the second to last day involving him getting stabbed by Loki and he made some jokes about rewrites or filming a version where Loki just grazes him, but for him, he was dead at the end of that. About four or five months after Avengers, he got a call from Joss saying that whatever reason they have for Coulson alive and walking around, couldn't undermine what happened in Avengers. He was on board when he heard what Joss wanted to do.
- Character fighting styles include Melinda May's is more martial arts while Grant Ward is more throwdown, boxer type of fighter
- Ming-Na Wen says hates working out but it's great to be able to be put to task, work out, do the training and really carry the character off. She feels like she's in the best shape of her life.
- Caestecker and Henstridge's characters reflect how a real couple would act working together.
- Chloe Bennet's character is a computer hacker but she is actually better with people than machines.
- Clark Gregg says he doesn't feel any pressure or a high bar, but he doesn't feel it. He says he feels like they just have a cool idea with an amazing team.
- In this world, the world's out of control and people are in possession of things that they may not be ready for.
- Joss Whedon couldn't confirm or deny if J. August Richards is coming back to the show after the pilot.
- Joss Whedon says that the explanation for Coulson's return will be teased out over the course of episodes.
- Clark Gregg describes Coulson as a magnificent chain letter that started as a character in two scenes in Iron Man with Jon Favreau; then when he started riffing off of RDJ, his role grew. Then he was in another movie. Then Thor with Kenneth Branagh. Each director/writer/creator has added something new to the character. He believes in the heroic stuff, but he can also be as vicious and saracastic as the next of them.
- Jed Whedon says the show will be a new challenge each week and will be overarching mythology.
- Joss Whedon commented that it's not going to be some new hero each week. It could be a device, or a mystery, or anything. They want to switch it up and deal with every aspect -- the heartfelt stuff, the spy stuff, everything.
- Shooting was hard when they wanted to keep everything under wrap but with the internet and cell phones, it's hard to keep anything a secret.
- They hope to travel and shoot internationally within the series.
- The Bus can take different characters around the world and is really home base for the team in the series.
- The cast premiere the new, official poster which we revealed before and you can check out again below.
