'S.H.I.E.L.D.' Season 3 Adds More Of Our Favorites

Good news for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. fans everywhere who like their Inhumans electrically charged and their mechanics handy with an ax. The S.H.I.E.L.D. base is going to get a lot more crowded per the latest Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D. Season 3 casting news, as two familiar (and well chiseled) faces from Season 2 are sticking around full-time. You guessed it, Agent Mack and Lincoln Campbell are now series regulars, according to TV Line. Mack was already a consistent fixture for most of last year, though it looked like he was gone for good by the season finale (citing his anti-alien views and general distrust of Coulson). Lincoln was a little late to the party, but got a fair bit of action while Skye trained in Afterlife and proved he was Agent material as he worked to save the base from Jiaying.

What does being upped from recurring to series regular mean exactly? Aside from more screen time, we are going to have to wait and see, but it's clear that adding these two as regulars is a smart move since they already have history with the major players on the show. With any luck, this could also mean a heck of a lot more smooching on the show, when the team isn't busy saving the world.

The most obvious potential for coupledom is Lincoln and Skye. There have been sparks (that was bad, sorry) since they first met when Skye was towel-ed up and basically a human pin cushion, but they haven't gone beyond a few meaningful glances. As a former staunch SkyeWard supporter, I was resistant to a Skye and Lincoln pairing early on, but after Ward's torturing of Bobbi and attempting to kill May, I think it's safe to say that 'ship has sunk and it's time to move on. Lincoln and Skye are both crazy good looking Inhumans, and my guess is that Lincoln will be recruited for the new S.H.I.E.L.D. initiative. I say, let's throw them into a high-pressure situation and watch them bond.

More of a mystery is Mack. Well, a mystery romance-wise, but let's face it, that's pretty much all I care about. We haven't really seen any flirtations between him and other cast members, so if he gets a love interest, it'll either be someone new, or we'll get to watch a relationship slowly blossom.

Love triangles and squares aside, having Mack and Lincoln on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. full-time opens up new plots and development for the show to flesh out. We can see what Mack's agent life looked like before the Hydra takeover, and Lincoln will make Skye less of an Inhuman oddity. So no matter what happens romantically, we know there's a lot to look forward to when Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. returns with even more of two of its best characters.

Images: Adam Taylor/ABC; jackassinacan/Tumblr