Jed Whedon and Jeff Bell Interview
Photo Credit: ABC/Adam Taylor
This is part two of the Exclusive Interviews with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. Make sure you read part one with Ming-Na Wen and Clark Gregg.
For part two, we sat down with Jed Whedon and Jeff Bell.
We have the Marvel cinematic universe and the TV shows. Are you limited to what you can and can’t do?
We definitely have free reign but it does limit us in that we can’t kill Captain America like we plan to each week. No, obviously there’s guidelines. They have these huge temples and we sort of move between them and there are things that are off limit to us for sure because they have either big plans for them or have already shot stuff that’s gonna use them. But in terms, we don’t feel limited by it. It’s sort of a fun puzzle for us and we get big toys to play with because of it. So, it’s sort of a privilege to live in that universe and the fact that when something happens on our show it is canned. It exists and the fact that we have to be respectful to that it also means that if we do something it is canned and so that aspect of it [has to be respected]. it’s more of a puzzle for us and we get the privilege of seeing what’s coming down the pipeline and sort of catering our stories to move between it. -Jed Whedon
The only challenge really was when we first launched we knew that Hydra was the big bad guy in Captain America 2 and there was one word we were not allowed to say on Shield. We called it the H word and we knew that was coming and we knew we were building to that and we knew we were gonna reward that way and we knew it was going to blow apart the team but it might have been helpful to have said the H word earlier for big comic fans. They’re going ‘who are these bad guys?’
If we said, well he works for Hydra, he works for Hydra, she’s with Hydra people would have been oh, they’re doing Hydra, that’s cool, but we couldn’t say that. That was really the only limit but the upside was it just exploded in our show and having the word turn like that and letting Brett [Dalton] do that and become that, that was awesome and then it really depends on each movie. Like Guardians of the Galaxy didn’t have much for us to tie in with. -Jeff Bell
And you can consider it a limitation to have a film that literally destroys the organization that your show is named after. [laughs] -Jed
Cause when we first wrote it it’s like episode seventeen, do we still exist? Agents of hmm??? -Jeff
We took it and saw it as an opportunity and I think that us working around that and finding a way to make that our show came up with some of the best story that we had. It generated things that we never would have thought of and put us in a tight corner that we had to ride our way out. -Jed
Aside from just the story how has it affected your approach? With Season One people didn’t really know what to expect. Season Two got people following. It’s just as essential to see the TV series as it is the movies.
They liked that question and had a little conversation about putting that on a t-shirt. 😉
Ward Captures Bobbi Clip
Do you do Season Two different than the way you did Season One?
I think that the big advantage we have now is that people know the characters. A huge disadvantage for us was that they were original characters which most Marvel properties launch with something that you are familiar with.
That was new for all of Marvel and new for the Marvel fans so I think that initially people reacted to that. They were saying okay, well I’m not seeing things I know of and this has a big Marvel flip at the top of it. but as time goes on and you get to know the characters you start to become familiar with them and Skye becoming who she became was more rewarding because you spend a year with her getting to know her and it wasn’t like the first episode, here’s this character you’ve heard of. You had to spend some time with them but I think there was a little barrier to entry because these were new names, new faces. -Jed
And from our perspective though part of that was we’re an ABC network show. We’re not a Sci-Fi show. Our mandate was not just to do a show for hardcore Marvel fans. Our show was to try to get as many people in as possible and so it was an opportunity for a lot of people to come in, characters they didn’t know and so if you’re not a big Marvel fan you don’t know that Skye or Ward were not part of that cannon but for the diehards they’re like, well, if Mike Peterson isn’t Luke Cage we don’t like him. And then we go oh, but we’re building him to Deathloc and you have to be patient to do that because we’re doing 22 episodes and they were like oh, that’s cool. -Jeff
So our approach hasn’t really changed. It’s just been easier. Initially, you have to spend time introducing the characters and now you can just throw them into trouble. Everyone goes oh, no and they’re making their way into comics. you know, FitzSimmons are now in the comics which to us is so fun and it starts to just weave together and who knows where stuff started and where it ends. -Jed
And you saw an example but what’s happened with Ward we think Ward has become – you need a good act out, do something with Ward. Ward walks in. it’s like oh, no this is — he’s gonna kill somebody or kiss them. I don’t know and I hope he does both. It’s weird. Is it just me, is it just me? -Jeff
Are there any cameos we could expect?
That falls in the category of questions we can’t answer. That is always a possibility. It would be cool if that happens. -Jed
Who would you like to see?
All of them [The Avengers]. There’s just one episode. They were all in it. -Jeff
We don’t really have favorites in that department. There’s a lot. There’s fun to be had with all of them. -Jed
I had to find out what their writing schedule was like with 22 episodes a season.
We start June first and the writers room broke today [mid-April] and then Jed and Marissa Marissa [Tancharoen] and I will be here until the second week of May finishing the episodes and then for two weeks we go crazy and sleep and then we come back June first should they say hey, let’s do this again. It’s 22. It’s stupid. -Jeff
We’re trying to negotiate that down. -Jed
It’s too many. -Jeff
Let’s do like 20 and by that I mean sixteen. -Jed
It’s funny because we talk about internally like god, Games of Thrones was great. They did ten episodes. We’re like ten episodes? We’re just like oh, we’ve got 12 to go. We’re already tired. -Jeff
Right and we start on June first and we start prepping six weeks later so we, that’s how much lead time we have that buffer … -Jed
There’s a train track. They say go and you start running down the train track and six weeks later they let a train behind you, all this and you try to stay ahead of that train until next week and you’re trying not to get run over by the train. -Jeff
Also, you can plan, you can generate all the story you want but there’s always a bump in the road. You know, schedules. There’s a lot of actors. There’s rain. There’s things that you can’t anticipate that when those bumps in the road come you just have to… -Jed
Evidently every show on TV has a Patton Oswald at least twice a week. Have you noticed this? And so us trying to get a canning on this show it’s like getting Elijah. You set a chair, you hope he shows up and that’s it. -Jeff
We’re like we’ll come to you with a camera. Just tell us where you are. -Jed
You guys have been showing a lot of back stories. Do you have a favorite?
Melinda Clip
Well we’re happy with [episode “Melinda”]. -Jed
Did you see the Cavalry story? Did you like it? Was that a good answer to the question of what happened and all that? -Jeff
Of course, we all said “Yes!” It was a great episode with so much of Melinda May’s back story so we finally found out what was behind The Cavalry story.
We’ve been waiting to tell that story for a while -Jed
Because we knew last year but part of it was when do you tell that story and how much of who she is and we wanna earn that story. We didn’t wanna wait too long. -Jeff
We kept actually sort of slotting it in as this is a nice place but then as we were introducing the new world that Skye enters we started sort of falling in there and we were like oh, that’s actually … -Jed
Honestly, one of my favorite moments of the season is when you’re watching. Okay, so this is a human story and then there’s this May flashback story and when you realize no, this one thing happened here and she says it was her daughter and the girl steps in. I still get chills but I love that moment for us and the fact that those two stories which I think hopefully felt separate came together in a surprising way. -Jeff
Good job [to Jed]. -Jeff
You too [to Jeff]. You know, it’s fun to read people saying when are we gonna hear this story? We’re like we have it in our back pocket going that’s a good question actually. -Jed
The other thing we did was at the end of 16 [Season 2, Episode 16] we go – we’re gonna get Ward and he shows up in 17 [Season 2, Episode 17] and it’s like how about a flashback story instead. And then it happens here as you can see there’s more of that. So structuring 22 [episodes] and how do you keep it interested so it doesn’t feel like the same thing every week and we started with Whitehall and then Dad showed up. You know — it’s fun to try and keep all those different threads alive over the course of 22 [episodes]. -Jeff
Our favorite thing to say right now as the writers are going home and we’re shooting our last episodes this is our 44th episode of S.H.I.E.L.D., which anytime you say it to anybody who works on a show they go oh, whoa, that’s right, that’s the math.
And then you see an ad for the final four episodes of Mad Men will blow your mind. -Jed
Which takes you the toll up to 17. -Jeff
Right. -Jed
Good, they’re all good. We’re not bitter at all, really not. Not bitter. -Jeff
Season 2 Finale airs tonight at 9|8c on ABC.
