'Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.' May Bring Deadly Twists

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. does a lot of things well, and one of its biggest talents is its capacity for heartbreak. That said, it's been almost a year since the beloved Triplett was killed off in the Season 2 winter finale. Does that mean we're about due for a major character to die in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 3?

If there's one thing the cast and crew alike can agree on, it's that this year's midseason finale is the one midseason finale to rule them all. Executive producer Jeph Loeb told Hypable, "What is coming in the next two weeks is something that everyone will be talking about." Clark Gregg told Entertainment Weekly, "I would say that this midseason finale has two shocking twists and both of them are bigger than anything that happened in last season’s midseason finale." And last but not least? Brett Dalton told IGN that the upcoming episodes would "drop a bomb on people, the same way we did with Winter Soldier in Season 1." Suffice it to say, something huge is coming down the pipeline.

Add all that to the fact that advance reviews of the upcoming episode, "Closure," has outlets like Hypable hinting that characters will be "taken... away" (they assert that "not everyone who is present at the start of “Closure” is there at its end"), and you've got to wonder: Will we be losing major characters over the course of the next two episodes? And if we are, who's next? Let's take a look at the odds.

FitzSimmons

Threat Level: LOW

For all their talk of being held apart by the cosmos, I'm an optimist who'd like to believe that things are finally looking up for our favorite scientists. I mean, come on — in the first season finale, he almost died, then in the second season finale, she almost died... killing one of them off for real would almost literally be overkill. Plus, their relationship is partially based on the working relationship between married co-executive producers, Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen, according to Entertainment Weekly, so they have to be sticking around, right?

Daisy

Threat Level: LOW

Love her or hate her, Daisy's the heart and soul of the show. I don't think she's going anywhere soon, especially not with her newly-minted superpowers and growing team of Secret Warriors.

May

Threat Level: LOW

I shudder to think of an Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. without Ming-Na Wen.

Mack

Threat Level: MEDIUM

Mack's hit his stride as one half of an awesome, banter-y, Mulder/Scully-esque duo with Daisy, so it seems like a terrible time to off him... but on a show like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., you just never know. His bond with Daisy may actually be a warning sign, since his death would greatly affect her.

Lincoln

Threat Level: MEDIUM

LBR, the whole Lincoln situation just really isn't working. His 'ship with Daisy hasn't exactly taken off with the fandom (especially when you condier the aforementioned Mulder/Scully dynamic she's got going on with Mack), and his best moment so far has been his moving reconciliation with May in "Many Heads, One Tale" — and scenes of forgiveness and bonding never bode well for mortality rates on action series.

Bobbi or Hunter

Threat Level: HIGH

Now that AoS has brought us the joy that is Bobbi and Hunter undercover (as a fancy translator/FBI agent and ultra-British hacker, respectively), it's tough to imagine the show without them. That said, after re-committing to each other, weathering a near-death experience, and perhaps most damningly of all, agreeing to give up on the Ward vendetta to keep each other safe, the door has definitively been left open for an ultra-heartbreaking death.

Coulson

Threat Level: HIGH

It's definitely tough to imagine Coulson being killed off from a show that was essentially built around him, but he could be in the process of slowly being phased out. He did, after all, recently promote his protegé Daisy to a position of power... it would be a crazy move, sure, but he already died in The Avengers — could this be his Buffy "hey, I've died twice" moment?

That said, it might not be his mortality we have to worry about, but rather his morality. Between his confrontation with Rosalind Price (where she accused him of literally being heartless) and the accompanying ruthlessness with which he handled her and the ATCU, Coulson has gotten darker and darker over the course of Season 3. Hypable teased that "there’s more than one way to lose a character" — we could be losing Coulson to the dark side.

Ward

Threat Level: HIGH

Is it just me, or has S.H.I.E.L.D. been employing a Harry Potter/Voldemort-esque "neither can live while the other survives" logic to Ward and Coulson lately? Ward's been super-villaining it up ever since the second half of Season 1 (so, for almost two whole years now) and it might be high time that his tenure as big bad comes to an end.

All Secondary Characters

Threat Level: HIGH

All I'm saying is, Rosalind Price, Will Daniels, and Andrew Garner had better watch out. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is promising to send us into the hiatus on the heels of some major twists, and any of these characters could find themselves at the center of a deadly cliffhanger.

Images: John Fleenor/ABC; Giphy (6); jemmasimmonsy, allagentsofshield (2)/Tumblr