Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD returns on Tuesday and suffice to say, there’s a lot for Director Coulson (Clark Gregg) to process, in the wake of the earthshaking events in the midseason finale.

I spoke to Gregg about the introduction of the Inhumans into the series and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, what Coulson knows or doesn’t know about recent events, including Skye’s Inhuman powers (and true identity as Daisy “Quake” Johnson), the show’s darker tone in Season 2 and more.

Clark Gregg as Director Phil Coulson in Marvel's Agents of SHIELD.

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How do you point that out to people? [Laughs] They keep going “How does Coulson feel about Quake?” And I was like, "He doesn’t know any of that!" He doesn’t even know that she’s been transformed. They haven’t even connected these earthquakes to her yet, when we left them. So I think people can expect that the first couple episodes back, at least, are kind of about that mystery and what happened in there. How responsible is Coulson for taking her there and how responsible does she feel for Tripp’s death and how responsible does Coulson feel and what are the effects on the team?It’s funny, because I had been looking at some stuff online about these amazing insects that can do something to another insect and makes that insect basically become a robot for them and builds them a nest and then kills itself to be food. I feel like it’s hard to know whether Coulson has free will. Did he bring her exactly where he was supposed to? He was trying to destroy this place so that Hydra could use it to transform people and make super warriors. But one could argue that he did exactly what he was…Who knows. That’s just me thinking out loud!I am. It’s just a part of the world that I really love. I always clicked the most with the stuff that feels the most… all my favorite sci-fi, all my favorite comics, they were always about stuff that felt like a way you could look at stuff that was too hard to look at in real life. There’s a way that stuff like the Inhumans… Whether it’s in X-Men or whether it’s inhumans, they always represented people who evolved in a different way where some of them were outcasts or treated like something was wrong with them and yet, perhaps, in many ways represented a vital new part of what we’re supposed to be. You can’t read the news or watch society change without seeing fertile ways that that represents who we are. All the ways that you watch the headlines, and people are part of super secret organizations slaughtering people on the street... It makes the kind of fight to protect us from them something that’s not just a fantasy comic world but connects to real life. Inhumans are a really important part of that for me. I’m really excited to see how they use that part of it on our show. It’s one of the things that’s fun about being on this show. When you understand what it is, you see Winter Solider and it’s “Agents of Nothing.” Right when you think you know what that is, there’s the attack at the end of the season and he can’t stop carving [symbols]. It keeps adding new elements to it. That said, we’re at nine o’clock, with a darker tone - less ICERS, more bullets. I think it’s finding its way to be more and more; its own central self that can withstand having things brought into it.It’s rough. At the same time, the core members of his team have become family. Skye’s his kid. These people don’t have real families. I love that people come up to me and ask about Fitz and Simmons. Everyone is starting to care so much about these characters and Coulson’s one of them. At the same time, he’s been given a job where he has to take off and leave them behind. That’s a hell of a cool thing to play. I’m excited to see where that goes.It’s hard to say. What i like about it is they figure out what’s the meat of something now and they get down to it. It’s kind of a little bit like this year the mystery of what’s going on with Coulson’s resurrection. I feel like they kind of took care of that and then moved on to Skye. I love the dynamic between Coulson and Cal. He seems so psycho that it’s hard for me not to believe that even the inhumans find him a loose canon. There’s a score to settle. He beat me up really bad. I want to see that come to a head really soon.It’s funny you say that. In the scene in Thor when he comes across the Destroyer, and he’s got a megaphone and he’s just like, “Is this one of Stark’s? What is this?” He seemed blasé then. He thought he was un-shockable then. But now he realizes there’s still plenty of stuff out there that can totally blow his mind.Absolutely. I can’t wait to see Ultron. I loved going to see Winter Soldier. Especially to go see the next chapter of a movie that I was in the first time, I love the people involved. I can’t wait to see those actors go to the next place. I love Lizzie Olsen. I’ve done a movie with her. We have some New York connections. To see some of those actors added to that mix… There was something really bonding about making the first Avengers, doing all the press for it, I can’t wait to go see that and see where it goes next. And I like that I’m still connected to it in a way. In recent months, Robert and Jeremy have been really cool about being vocal about wanting to see Coulson again whether it’s on my show or one of their little shows and I hope that comes true.

Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD returns Tuesday, March 3rd 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