The first TV show of the Marvel Cinematic Universe will wrap up after its seventh season. With the end of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. comes the end of an era and then end of original MCU content on broadcast television, as the majority of new MCU content will premiere on the upcoming Disney+ streaming service. A big question now is whether the end of S.H.I.E.L.D. means the end of the agents in the expansive MCU. According to S.H.I.E.L.D. star Ming-Na Wen, that doesn't have to be the case.
Ming-Na Wen recently spoke at the FanX 2019 convention in Salt Lake City about the future of Melinda May and the end of S.H.I.E.L.D., saying this:
It’s been bittersweet, of course. We have such an incredible family over there, and when we did our last scene — which I can’t talk about, of course — there was a definite sense of finality about it. And yet we always feel like with Marvel characters, we never really go away. So I’m sure somewhere down the line there will be some sort of incarnation where I have to bring Agent May back.
Although Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 7 doesn't premiere until next year, the S.H.I.E.L.D. cast has already wrapped and filmed their final scene together. Naturally, Ming-Na Wen wasn't about to give away what exactly happens in the last scene, but the "definite sense of finality" could be both good news and bad news. The end of Season 6 of did prove that even senses of finality -- such as with the death of Coulson between the fifth and sixth seasons -- can be overcome.
Still, it sounds to me like Ming-Na Wen isn't hinting the May is going to be killed off and the MCU will have to resurrect her or use flashbacks or an LMD to bring her back. My money is on May as one of the survivors of the end of S.H.I.E.L.D., so maybe it will simply be a matter of finding the right new MCU project to incorporate the character, however her story ends on the show. If there's an open door for Clark Gregg, why not Ming-Na Wen?
Ming-Na Wen isn't exactly straying too far from the MCU following the end of S.H.I.E.L.D. filming. Although she's not publicly slated to appear on The Falcon and the Winter Soldier or WandaVision or one of the upcoming MCU movies at this point, she did land a role in Disney+'s first live-action Star Wars series, The Mandalorian. Star Wars and the MCU are in the same Disney family.
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What kind of project would be ideal to feature Melinda May again? Well, it would be fun to see one of the S.H.I.E.L.D. characters to make the jump to the big screen, as Coulson's return to the films for Captain Marvel only kinda sorta counts. It was flashback, after all. The last two Avengers movies would have arguably been great ways for characters like Daisy to appear; now that the MCU is heading into a whole new era of its own, maybe the time has come for May to be in a movie.
Only time will tell. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. returns for its seventh and final season in 2020, with a surprising character on the way back. A whole bunch of other MCU goodness will be coming courtesy of Disney+, which launches with some original content already available to stream on November 12. If you need some viewing options between now and then, swing by our 2019 fall TV premiere schedule.
