S.H.I.E.L.D. fans, rejoice! Season five is already well into filming, and will premiere almost three months earlier than originally promised. Natalie Abrams reported for Entertainment Weekly that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will begin airing immediately after Inhumans. Marvel’s newest cable TV program premiers first in IMAX on Sept. 1. Its eight episode season then begins airing on ABC on Friday, Sept. 29 at 8 p.m.
Agents of November
Marvel’s newest cable TV program premiers in IMAX on Sept. 1. Its eight episode run then begins airing on ABC on Friday, Sept. 29. A little quick math reveals a pleasant surprise: S.H.I.E.L.D. kicks off its fifth season on November 24th. When Marvel confirmed S.H.I.E.L.D.’s fifth season this spring, the plan was to hold off airing until January. However, last weekend, ABC Chief Channing Dungey announced during the Television Critics Association’s press tour that the vet show will air instead immediately as Inhumans wraps up.
The reason for the dramatic change is unclear. However, the news comes soon after SDCC, where Marvel and ABC put all their eggs in an Inhuman basket. The SHIELD cast was nowhere to be seen. The official reason for their absence was the beginning of filming on season five, but season four began filming the same weekend as SDCC 2016, and most of the cast balanced both filming and appearing at all four days of the con. Fans were confused by the inconsistent timing. The fact that the show wasn’t supposed to air until after the winter break caused even more confusion regarding the film schedule.
Uninterrupted S.H.I.E.L.D.
Season five is set for a full twenty two episodes. Even with the earlier start time, the show will air with very few interruptions. The air schedule will be a wonderful change from season four, which was split into three “pods”. Long breaks in the air schedule broke the pods up into three parts, which were almost completely disjointed from one another. Creator/producer team Joss and Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen are tight-lipped about the structure of season five. They’re also tight-lipped about any plot details, but with the way season four unfolded, pretty much anything’s possible.
