We might not be riding shotgun with Ghost Rider whenever Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. returns to ABC for Season 5, but it sounds like we'll get to see all our favorite agents again much sooner than we expected. When the Marvel drama wasn't part of ABC's fall line-up, it was assumed by many that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. would make an eventual bow during the post-winter midseason break, but now it sounds like we only have a few more months to wait for Season 5 to arrive. According to ABC President Channing Dungey:
It's going to come on right after Inhumans. As soon as the eight episodes of Inhumans is done, then S.H.I.E.L.D. will begin.
That's an announcement worth celebrating, perhaps by developing a Framework where alternate versions of ourselves can party the night away without it affecting our daily lives. (Probably a bad idea, though.) If Channing Dungey is indeed laying things out as they'll come to be later this year, then Marvel fans are going to get to watch ABC's two different comic-sourced dramas popping up on primetime back to back, as opposed to being placed on opposite ends of an awkward months-long break, possibly with another game show revival filling the gaps. No, S.H.I.E.L.D. will jump right back in front of viewers, presumably in November or early December, to show us what the post-Aida world will be like for Coulston & Co.
There more good news, too! In making this confirmation during the TCA summer press tour (via EW), Channing Dungey claimed that because Inhumans' run will cut out the first two months or so of what might have otherwise been Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Season 5 run, fans will likely get to see almost the entire season play out without any weekly interruptions delaying things. Now, holidays like Christmas will almost definitely cause that week to sit out on new episodes, but we won't have to deal with the seemingly arbitrary stops and starts that other broadcast network series go through as the year goes on.
Without a premiere date set in stone, we can't guarantee when Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 5 will arrive in primetime. But we know it'll follow in the earthquake-causing footsteps of Marvel's Inhumans, which will kick off its two-week IMAX run on September 1, with the first episode making it to TV on ABC on Friday, September 29, at 8:00 p.m. ET. We'll possibly then see Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. show up in late November or the first week of December.
In the meantime, check out what might be messing with S.H.I.E.L.D. in Season 5, and then head to our summer premiere schedule and our fall TV schedule to see everything heading to the small screen soon.
