‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ Spoilers: What’s Next For Ward After The Midseason Finale?

That’s one way to end a midseason finale on a cliffhanger. In Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s last new episode of 2015, “Maveth,” a major character died, but, as the final moments showed, that doesn’t mean the cast will necessarily be down one when the series returns in March. (Agent Carter returns for its second season in its time slot in January.)

In the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. midseason finale, while everyone else was trying to secure the Hydra base so that they could make sure the creature didn’t make its way through the portal and their friends did, Fitz and Coulson were on the alien planet facing a major threat and a momentous decision. While Fitz found Will where he and Simmons had been living and managed to talk Ward out of killing him, after going through the “no fly zone” and taking out some of Hydra’s men (and suspiciously knowing a lot about the civilization that used to exist on the planet), Fitz checked on his injured leg and found a gaping hole. That could only mean one thing: Will was the creature Hydra was after. Fitz managed to take him down before he could reach the portal, but unbeknownst to anyone, the “something” in Will’s body smoked out, clearly after another host.

That other host came thanks to the result of Coulson versus Ward. After shooting him a couple of times, Coulson killed Ward using his prosthetic hand before leaving the weapon behind with his body and returning through the portal with Fitz. However, the very last scene saw Malick’s car stopped in the road by Ward standing in the middle of it – holding Coulson’s hand and clearly not Ward anymore, based on what’s crawling around his face. And with that, Ward seems to be gone, but Brett Dalton is still around.

The question remains: Is Ward dead?

“It’s safe to say that he didn’t make it out of there the same. He was definitely left for dead and not breathing when Coulson walked away from him, so take from that what you will,” executive producer Jed Whedon told Entertainment Weekly. “We don’t think of it as removing [Ward]. We think of it is as a change.”

Of course, that leads to the question that if he was somehow still alive when the Inhuman took control of his body, who’s to say Ward could even survive that possession or if the creature (or It, as they’re calling it) would ever let him go? Even if Ward is still somewhere in there, it’s hard to imagine how he could survive whatever’s coming next with this creature (and whatever will have to be done to stop it).

It’s safe to say that right now on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Coulson thinks that he killed Ward and that Ward is stuck on that alien planet. According to TVLine, Clark Gregg said that they haven’t yet covered the team’s reactions to the fact that It has brought Ward back.

“It seems to be a pretty astonishing moment that probably lies in our future,” he said.

As for the fallout from the other major event that happened on the alien planet on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the midseason finale saw Simmons find out that Will’s dead, but it didn’t show just how much she’s going to know about the events surrounding his death or what this means for, as Whedon told EW, Fitz and Simmons’ “complicated” relationship.

“It’s a huge loss for her, but it’s more of a question of how it’ll affect her and Fitz moving forward when there are so many conflicting feelings between them at all times, and now there’s even more.”

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 3 returns Tuesday, March 8 at 9 p.m. on ABC.

[Image via ABC]