Trying to get specifics on what’s to come on Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD is always tricky, as Marvel is known for their secrecy. However, those of us attending the TCA (Television Critics Association) press tour this week did our best, when we spoke to executive producers Jeffrey Bell, Maurissa Tancharoen and Jed Whedon about Season 2.

SHIELD's Status

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Jeffrey Bell: That's one of the things we're going to be exploring. Who's out there? Who went to Hydra? Who didn't? Who can we trust?



Maurissa Tancharoen: What does it mean to be the director of something that's fallen apart?



Bell: I mean, once we could say "Hydra" and there were double-crosses and spies in our midst, the show got really interesting. So continuing that with SHIELD and Coulson -- not willing to trust people, not willing to bring people in...



Jed Whedon: Right -- what happened too, because he doesn't have as many resources. We think we can keep that "Trust no one alive" [feel].



Tancharoen: And as Agent Coulson, I think it was very clear that he was the kind of man to leave no man behind. But now as director, I think we're going to explore, you know, maybe he has to make tougher decisions, harder calls.



Whedon: Last we saw them, they were being hunted. They were no one's friends. They're in a bit of a pickle when we find them.

Guardians, Carter and the MCU

Whedon: You'll have to see the movie to know the answer to that question, but there's always a chance with any of the films and TV shows that something will happen.



Tancharoen: I don't necessarily think it's a protocol or anything like that. It's a very cool opportunity that we have. Marvel, their whole thing is "It's all connected." Do we connect with Carter? Do we connect with Guardians? Do we connect with anything else coming up? So, you know...



Whedon: And everything has to exist on its own so it can survive as its own property.

Agent Ward

Tancharoen: He's in our custody.



Whedon: He's in the mix.



Bell: And we love who he's become. He's really fun. It's interesting to hear people [react]. Just today, "Tell me he and Skye are not going to end up together!"



Tancharoen: And there are people who say, "Tell me they will end up together!"

On Cliffhangers and Game Changers

Tancharoen: When we break and go to Agent Carter, we're not going to leave you with something that is not satisfying.



Whedon: You will want to come back, is the goal. That's always the goal.

Whedon: Well, fortunately, there will not be a movie this year that comes out that destroys SHIELD. [Laughs] So our approach is definitely different this year.



There's always that chance. [But] in terms of game changers, that's hard to beat.

Season 1 ended with some huge changes to the status quo, in the wake of the Hydra reveal in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Nick Fury has now named Coulson the director of a new incarnation of SHIELD, which he essentially is building from the ground up. But just how large is this new SHIELD? And how official are they, given Fury himself is believed to be dead?The next two new projects in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the next few months are Guardians of the Galaxy and the new Marvel’s Agent Carter TV series. The producers were asked whether SHIELD might have any ripple effects from Guardians and – despite taking place in different eras – how much it could tie into Agent Carter, which will air in SHIELD’s timeslot for eight weeks in the middle of the season.So Agent Ward was Hydra all along. Now that he’s been taken down, where does Season 2 find him?[I'll add that I told them I’d be fine with them ending up together, if it involved Skye turning evil as well.]While Season 1 had a “midseason” cliffhanger, while SHIELD was off the air for a few weeks during the holidays, Season 2 has a much more dramatic split, given the plan for Agent Carter to air in the middle. The producers promised they were very much keeping that in mind as they planned their 22 episodes.The show changed dramatically thanks to what happened in The Winter Soldier. So could something like that happen again, where a Marvel movie ends up bringing so much upheaval to Agents of SHIELD?

Marvel's Agents of SHIELD: Season 2 begins Tuesday, September 23rd in its new 9:00pm ET/PT timeslot 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