Marvel is notorious for keeping a tight lid on spoilers, but we managed to squeeze a little information from executive producers Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen about what to expect from the new season of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Watch the opening scene of the premiere, which airs Sept. 29:

The core conceit of the series has always been about seeing the Marvel Universe from the perspective of a human, and that theme gets magnified this season. “Because we’re now in a world where Inhumans are popping up all around,” Tancharoen tells us, “it shines a light on what it means to be human in that world. All of our characters are trying to get back in touch with their humanity through this season. That’s something we’re looking forward to exploring with each character. And Coulson’s at the center of that.”

Video: ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ Cast on Season 3: No More Skye, Coulson With a Tentacle

Secret Warriors

The revelation that Skye was actually Daisy Johnson opened up all sorts of new doors for Agents — the most exciting of which is Secret Warriors, a comic book series about a covert team within S.H.I.E.L.D. Though originally formed to combat a Skrull invasion, the idea of a super-powered group formed by Nick Fury primarily because of their anonymity fits perfectly with the Agents timeline where they have to deal with the Inhumans threat without anyone being the wiser.

While it’s unlikely we’ll see Phobos, son of Ares anytime soon (one pantheon of alien/gods is more than enough, thank you very much), there’s no reason we won’t see the character without his godly heritage. And there’s no reason we can’t expect Slingshot, Manifold, Hellfire, The Druid, and Stonewall — though it’s just as likely that we’ll see entirely new characters created specifically for the show.

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Marvel’s Most Wanted

The breakout characters from last season are clearly Bobbi and Hunter, so much so that a spinoff was planned, and then killed because the couple was considered too integral to the success of Agents.

But now it’s on again: ABC has ordered a pilot for Marvel’s Most Wanted starring Adrienne Palicki and Nick Blood as the deadly couple. Not much is known about the series beyond the stars, but it would make sense for it to be a prequel to avoid having to navigate the increasingly complex continuity of the modern Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Why now when, just four months ago, it had been shot down? Though unwilling to get into specifics, Whedon tells us “we have a lot of characters to service” when it comes to the new season. It’s possible they convinced ABC execs that the new Secret Warriors story would not only sustain the show’s momentum but, in fact, have too much going on to do right by Palicki and Blood’s characters.

A Few Words on the New Faces

Constance Zimmer (Entourage, House of Cards) plays Rosalind Price, the “mysterious leader” of the ATCU (Advanced Threat Containment Unit) along with her “intimidating” partner, Banks, played by Andrew Howard. What is the ATCU? We’ve seen threats come from the government (Major Talbot), from within (the infiltration by Hydra), and from sister organizations (the Real S.H.I.E.L.D.) — will we see a variation of one of these, or something wholly new?

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