New director, new baddies, no Coulson(?!) in first trailer for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s return

Surprise, surprise — Marvel and ABC has dropped the first trailer for Season 6 of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and it basically serves as a re-pilot setting an all-new status quo for the long-running series. So who’s gone, who’s back, who’s still missing — and who’s in charge?

Fans will be happy to see that Clark Gregg’s Agent Coulson is still around, though not exactly as some might’ve hoped. We see new S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Mack talking to a hologram of Coulson, so it seems he’ll at least continue to be some kind of presence on the show. There’s also a late tease that seems to set up Coulson — or at least some version of him — still having a role moving forward this season. Though at this point, he looks more foe than friend. That said, the teaser makes it clear that Coulson is supposedly dead, so who the heck was that guy?

The teaser also picks up on some major threads left dangling at the end of last season, most notably the pending search for Fitz, who was last left frozen in deep space (well, a version of him, after a future version died. Gotta love time travel). The teaser seems to be setting up a decent bit of sci-fi and space action, so it seems that theme will carry over from last season. There’s also a tease of a mysterious new group of villains, could they also be aliens here to cause trouble? With Captain Marvel and (probably) Avengers: Endgame set to open before the new season premieres, could they be Skrulls or some other new type of baddie? At this point, all we can do is guess.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. returns this summer on ABC, and a seventh season has already been ordered for next year.

Check out the trailer below and give us your best theories.