Clark Gregg reveals where Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will pick up in Season 6

Turns out even the stars of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. were as shocked as the rest of us to learn the series would actually be renewed. Star Clark Gregg said the cast and crew were finding closure after the Season 5 finale (literally dubbed “The End”), when word came down that ABC would bring the series back for two, 13-episode seasons.

So where does the show go now that it has at least two more years of stories left to tell?

Gregg, who played Phil Coulson, revealed to ET Online where S.H.I.E.L.D. 2.0 will find itself once the show comes back this summer. We already knew Mack (Henry Simmons) would be taking over for Coulson running the agency, but now we know what they’ll be doing. According to Gregg, the remaining crew will be divided up, dealing with a new Earth-bound disaster; and also heading to space on a rescue mission to find the time-displaced Fitz who is still frozen in stasis somewhere in orbit.

"I know that Season 6 starts out with the S.H.I.E.L.D. team on Earth, grieving, trying to take on on the duties of S.H.I.E.L.D. and dealing with these strange anomalies that have wreaked mass chaos, and they seem to get some images of people from somewhere else who are committing these things," Gregg told ET Online. "The other half of the team is off in space, looking for the frozen Fitz from the future.”

As for those anomalies, Gregg said a new player wearing a “familiar face” is behind all the chaos. As fans who saw the first trailer can deduce, that person is Gregg himself — playing a mysterious new character who is definitely not Coulson (could he be a rogue Skrull still roaming the Earth after Captain Marvel?). Gregg said it’s a bold move, though after so many of those in recent years, he’s learned to trust the writers to pull it off.

"I don’t know what people are going to think, I do not know," he said. "That’s what I like about the show. They have a great bravery in terms of throwing out all the rules and taking risks. And they’ve really taken one this year."

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. returns this summer, and presumably the summer after that, on ABC.