Whatever Happened To The Cast Of Marvel's Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.?

Marvel's "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." debuted on ABC following 2012's "The Avengers," with the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division — or S.H.I.E.L.D. — and Agent Phil Coulson connecting the series to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Clark Gregg had already established his newly resurrected character on the big screen through his roles in "Iron Man 2" and "Thor," as well as the superhero ensemble film. Season 1 also welcomed mainstays like Ming-Na Wen, Chloe Bennet, Elizabeth Henstridge, and Iain De Caestecker.

In its early era, the series focused on superhuman threats, enhanced individuals, and the resurgence of Hydra who tried to recreate the super soldier serum used on Steve Rogers (Chris Evans). "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." initially tried to follow the events of the MCU timeline, but co-showrunner Jed Whedon told The Wrap that this eventually became too difficult as the show risked spoiling huge plot points for the movies. And, as the series progressed, it became easier for it to traverse a different path, with the team facing adversaries across space and time, until the final season.

Over the years, the show welcomed new stars to the cast while some familiar faces unexpectedly departed. It's now been years since viewers said goodbye to their favorite team and you might be wondering what they've been doing since. Some stars have completely moved on from their characters while others are doing their best to preserve the show's legacy. Keep reading to find out where the "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." cast is now.

Ming-Na Wen has played plenty of iconic roles throughout her career. One of the most notable is, of course, the steely warrior agent, Melinda May. The best thing about the character, according to Wen, is that she has so many different layers. And by Season 3 she was able to show so much more of May's humanity through her on-screen relationships, which was something she really enjoyed exploring, per Show Patrol. Of course, prior to playing May, Wen voiced another fierce warrior; Mulan. She returned to her Disney princess roots while shooting the final season of "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.," with a brief cameo in the 2020 live-action remake. "I thought that was very appropriate and just wonderful," Wen told The New York Times. "A little Easter egg where I could pass the baton."

Both of these projects came to an end around the same time, but Wen had already appeared in "The Mandalorian" as Fennec Shand, so she was easily able to carve out a new home for herself within the world of action-packed storytelling. The life-long "Star Wars" fan reprised the role of Shand for "The Book of Boba Fett," which gives her considerably more screen time. Additionally, she voiced a younger version of her character in the animated series, "Star Wars: The Bad Batch." Speaking to Star Wars about her ongoing role, Wen admitted: "I've been part of the [fandom] family for so many decades that now to actually be in the family is pretty crazy."

Brett Dalton's Grant Ward was the villain viewers loved to hate, especially since he was initially presented as one of the good guys. It wasn't until he pushed Elizabeth Henstridge and Iain De Caestecker's characters, affectionately known as FitzSimmons, out of the plane on the orders of John Garett (Bill Paxton) that viewers started to see his darker side.

Dalton stuck around as a member of the show's main cast for three seasons, guest-starring in Season 4. During that time he played different versions of Ward — like the good guy double agent in the Framework — as well as the Inhuman Hive, so it was often difficult for viewers to predict what version of the character they were going to see. Following his departure from the show in 2017, Dalton appeared in a string of made-for-TV Hallmark movies, including "Cooking With Love," and "One December Night."

For "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." fans, his most notable Hallmark appearance came in the 2020 movie, "Just My Type," which saw Dalton reunite with Bethany Joy Lenz. The pair has previously shared the screen together in Season 3 when Lenz played Stephanie Malick. Speaking to Media Village about the 2020 film, Dalton said it was the perfect light-hearted distraction from the pandemic: "I'm not sure if the world will ever be the same, but at least for two hours we can enjoy a world where love wins."

Like Henstridge, Iain De Caestecker was thrilled with where Leo and Jemma ended up and loves that the future is still unwritten for them. "For the evolution of those characters, it's a fitting end but a beginning, of another life, as well," he told TVLine. However, the British actor ultimately appeared in fewer episodes than Henstridge due to a scheduling conflict in Season 7, which was most likely the BBC comedy-drama miniseries, "Us."

In contrast to the long-running series which was a huge part of his life for the best part of a decade, De Caestecker has opted to focus on miniseries following the 2020 finale. All of his projects post "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." have been based in the U.K., too, so it looks like he's more focused on staying closer to home for the time being. His next role was the four-part thriller "Roadkill," which saw him share the screen with Hugh Laurie and the late Harry Potter star, Helen McCrory.

In 2022, he starred in the BBC series, "The Control Room," another dramatic thriller inspired by true events. De Caestecker leads the series as an emergency call handler for the Scottish Ambulance Service in Glasgow who receives a call from someone claiming to recognize his voice. Comparing the acting process of "The Control Room" to "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.," De Caestecker told Collider it was much easier because you have all the scripts beforehand and know exactly where your character is going to end up.

"Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." Season 2 also welcomed Adrianne Palicki as Barbara "Bobbi" Morse, who viewers first meet while she is undercover at Hydra. She quickly comes to Jemma's rescue and the pair return to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s new underground base to reunite with the team. During her time on the show, Bobbi (aka Mockingbird) was best known for her tough fighting style with batons and her on-off relationship with her ex-husband, Lance Hunter (Nick Blood).

The pair quickly integrated into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s close-knit team but departed suddenly in the middle of Season 3. Palicki and Blood's characters took the blame for a sideways mission in Siberia, but were really exiting to star in their own ABC spinoff — "Marvel's Most Wanted." Unfortunately, the network passed on the pilot and the series never came to fruition.

Instead, the "Supernatural" alum left her Marvel character behind and moved on to another sci-fi show, landing the part of Commander Kelly Grayson in "The Orville" in 2017. Palicki got the role partly thanks to her close friendship with the series creator, Seth McFarlane, who gave her a copy of the script and asked if she was interested in playing Kelly (per Collider). "I went through the process, but there was so much support and love from him, wanting me to have this part," she explained. I have to tell you, the first five minutes into reading the script, I was like, 'I'm in! I have to play this character!'"

J. August Richards' Mike Peterson (aka Deathlok) is the first enhanced person Coulson's team ever comes into contact with, and he eventually becomes one of their strongest allies. Richards told Collider that starring in the show fulfilled his childhood fantasy. "When I found out that I was being turned into Deathlok, that's when I had to pull the car over on the side of the road to do a happy dance," he recalled. Richards periodically guest-starred on the series until "The Real Deal" in Season 5, when his character departed to pursue his own missions away from S.H.I.E.L.D.

Richards continued to create a diverse filmography for himself away from the superhero world, taking on roles in everything from the American dramedy, "Generation," to the fantasy horror series, "Vampire Academy." Richards' role in the 2020 drama, "Council of Dads," was one of his most notable projects after "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.," though, and it was a deliberate choice for the actor.

In the series, Richards plays Dr. Oliver Post, a happily married gay father. While speaking to his co-star, "Prison Break" alum Sarah Wayne Callies, on Instagram, he explained that he felt enormous pressure and responsibility in portraying this character and discussed how his own sexuality influenced his decision to take the part: "I knew that I could not portray this gay man honestly without letting you all know that I am a gay man myself ... because I knew how important it is to other people out there."

Kyle MacLachlan took on a different role when he signed up to play Daisy's dad, Calvin "Cal" Johnson, in "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." Introduced through Raina, Cal was a major antagonist to Daisy (then Skye) and her team until he switched sides and helped them defeat his wife Jiaying. After this, Cal was finally able to find some peace and he departed the series in 2015 at the end of Season 2.

Just a few days after his final scenes aired, MacLachlan's next project, the animated Pixar movie, "Inside Out," was released. He followed this up with another voice role in Pixar's animated short, "Riley's First Date," before reprising the role of Dale Cooper in 2017's "Twin Peaks: The Return." MacLachlan's filmography is incredibly diverse, but he admitted to Collider that there's never been a plan as such. Taking a project really comes down to the material, he explained. "It's really a feeling, or whether I feel like I can bring something to it, or if I don't want to go into that world."

In 2022, MacLachlan revisited another of his former characters, picking up where he left off as George "The Captain" Van Smoot from "How I Met Your Mother" in the show's spinoff, "How I Met Your Father." Series co-creator Isaac Aptaker told TVLine that the actor was immediately on board to reprise the role, but they had to work around his filming schedule for "Joe vs. Carole" which had him in Australia at the same time.

Luke Mitchell didn't join the cast of "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." at its inception, but his character, Lincoln Campbell, quickly became a fan-favorite addition to the series in Season 2 until he was dramatically killed off while saving the world from Hive at the end of Season 3. The show had really built up his relationship with Daisy, who mourned him and felt guilty over his death for many seasons to come. It wasn't until she met Enver Gjokaj's Daniel Sousa in Season 7 that she was finally able to move on from him.

However, Mitchell was quickly able to move on to new roles, starring in the crime drama, "Blindspot," from 2016 to 2020, before picking up parts in other popular series like "The Code," "The Republic of Sarah," and "Big Sky." Mitchell also had a recurring role in "The Vampire Diaries" spinoff, "Legacies," playing the ancient god Ken. The actor told CBR that this was a really interesting role to play because Ken felt like a mix of Lincoln and Roman from "Blindspot." He added: "It's super-fun because I have gotten to go to a pretty dark place with this character."

Mitchell is more than adept at portraying drama on the screen but off-screen he enjoys a drama-free romance with his former "Home and Away" co-star, Rebecca Breeds. In January 2023 the couple celebrated their ten-year wedding anniversary (via Instagram).

Natalia Cordova-Buckley joined the cast of "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." in Season 3 as the Inhuman Elena "Yo-Yo" Rodriguez. She quickly became part of Daisy's Secret Warriors initiative, but unlike fellow team member Joey Gutierrez (Juan Pablo Raba) who didn't stick around for long, she transitioned into an integral member of Coulson's team. "What I love about Yo-Yo is that she's never been a protagonist, but with every season, she's evolved more and more into that," the actor recalled to Collider. Cordova-Buckley's main storylines in the series included having both of her arms chopped off by Ruby (Dove Cameron) in Season 5, and her complex relationship with Mack, which eventually ended happily ever after.

The Mexican-American star continued acting when "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." ended, choosing to stick with action and appear in crime dramas like "Mayans M.C." and "Coyote." Cordova-Buckley also scored a recurring role in the second season of the Apple TV+ series, "The Mosquito Coast," which concluded at the beginning of 2023. As she noted on Instagram, the series was a very special homecoming for the actor, as it was filmed close to Cancun, where she grew up. "To speak the words of this character (Isela) felt profoundly serendipitous and meant to be," she added.

John Hannah joined the cast in Season 3, as scientist and inventor Dr. Holden Radcliffe. Although Radcliffe eventually made amends for working with Hive in Season 3, he and Leo Fitz became the accidental villains of Season 4 when they created Aida (Mallory Jansen), an LMD who tortured the team through "an immersive sensory experience" called The Framework.

Following Radcliffe's death in Season 4, Hannah threw himself into a variety of different roles, notably playing a war colonel in "Enemy Lines," before starring alongside Anna Faris and Jeff Goldblum in the 2018 comedy, "Overboard." In 2019, the Scottish actor took on the role of another doctor, playing Archie Watson in the anthology medical drama, "Trust Me." The following year, Hannah scored a main role in the Canadian medical drama, "Transplant," again playing another doctor, this time by the name of Jed Bishop.

In an interview with NBC Los Angeles, Hannah, whose family home is in London, explained that he had the best of both worlds filming the series in Canada because he got to enjoy the country with his friends and family who visited. "Just about everyone but the dog came and visited. It was great!" Hannah departed the series in 2022 after 26 episodes but bagged yet another doctor role in "The Last of Us" in 2023. He guest-starred in the post-apocalyptic series as Dr. Neuman, an epidemiologist who tried to warn the world about a possible fungal outbreak, which is the premise of the series.

"Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." certainly had the ability to warp viewers' minds with all the time travel and confusing lingo it throws at them. One of the show's most interesting — and complex — plot points comes when viewers meet FitzSimmons' grown-up grandson, Deke Shaw, played by Jeff Ward. Deke is first introduced in Season 5 when all of the team, except Fitz, have been transported to the future through another monolith. When they eventually find a way to get back to their own time in Episode 10, he decides to go with them and live out his life in the present, until the Season 7 finale when he ends up staying in an alternate timeline in 1983 and becomes the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.

When "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." ended, Ward wasted no time securing other roles, appearing in "Hacks," "PEN15," and "Brand New Cherry Flavour" all in 2021. In Netflix's horror-drama miniseries, "Brand New Cherry Flavour," Ward plays classic '90s Hollywood star, Roy Hardaway. It was co-creator Nick Antosca's writing which really attracted him to the project. Having previously worked together on "The Girlfriend Game" and "Channel Zero," Ward was impressed that Antosca was able to surprise him so much with the script, telling Schön! Magazine, "This one was just so unique. I'd never read anything like it. And it was bold and unflinching."