We hadn’t seen Grant Ward (Brett Dalton) on Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD since the midseason finale back in December, but that will change Tuesday night. IGN has an exclusive clip for you from this week’s new episode, “Love in the Time of Hydra”, which you can check out above, showing what Ward and Agent 33 (Ming-Na Wen) have been up.

Brett Dalton as Grant Ward in Marvel's Agents of SHIELD.

Ming-Na Wen as Agent 33 in Marvel's Agents of SHIELD.

Dalton says that when it comes to Ward and 33, “I think what we’re seeing now is an unlikely duo who have both lost someone who gave them orders. So both of us have this question that we’ve been forced to answer: Who are we when someone’s not telling us what to do? I wrestled with those demons for six months in a padded cell before Season 2 and now Agent 33 is in a similar position and wondering what to do. I might have some knowledge in that.”Wen relished the challenge of playing Agent 33, while still playing Agent Melinda May, noting, “Even though she has my face, she’s a completely different character. She’s someone who’s very lost, who is not sure of herself and who needs constantly to have a leader to guide her. And that’s not May at all.” She added, with a laugh, “And she has this nasty thing on her face. She shouldn’t have popped that pimple,” referring to the Agent 33 scar makeup that takes two hours to apply.More seriously, she remarked, “I just love the fact that I could kind of stretch my acting muscles a little more and play someone completely different and also try to figure out who she is. It’s hard to play someone who has been brainwashed and still have an identity. So it’s really finding that person.”In Season 2, Ward – before his Hydra allegiance was revealed – was in a romantic (or at least sexual) storyline with May. Regarding his new dynamic with Wen, with her playing a different character, Dalton said, “I think it’s incredibly fun. it’s just good television, I think. It’s great. It is an opportunity for Ming to show a completely different side of her. May is so strong and centered and dangerous, and then you have Agent 33, who has those similar qualities, but at the same time, what we see is someone who is a bit lost. She put a lot of work into that, even though she looks exactly the same. Who is this character exactly?”Despite proving he has quite a dangerous side, Dalton said he still felt, “There’s a lot of goodness in Ward. That’s why the writers have taken such pains and such time and energy and effort to show the flashbacks of him with the dog, of him in juvenile hall, all the stuff with his family. This is a guy coming from an extremely messed up childhood who didn’t have a way out until some guy came down and sat in the cafeteria in this juvenile hall and said, ‘You have 10 seconds to decide if you want to follow me.’ He decided to walk through that door with Agent Garrett and obviously that’s had some pretty interesting consequences, but I think that he’s still a really good guy and I’m thankful for the writers to have been able to show the backstory. I think that’s why they’ve done that.”While Ward sat out the first few episodes of SHIELD’s midseason return, his appearance this week marks the beginning of some big new storylines, with Dalton explaining, “Ward has an important part in this season. I think you will see him more in the back half of the season.”

Marvel's Agents of SHIELD: "Love in the Time of Hydra" airs Tuesday, March 24th at 8:00pm ET/PT on ABC.Eric Goldman is Executive Editor of IGN TV. You can follow him on Twitter at @EricIGN , IGN at ericgoldman-ign and Facebook at Facebook.com/TheEricGoldman