What do you do when your Marvel Comics TV series is only pulling in so-so ratings? Make a spinoff, of course.
Entertainment Weekly reports that Marvel is developing a new show spinning off from ABC's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., although the featured characters are still unknown.
According to the article, there won’t be a specific pilot episode this season directly setting up the spinoff, similar to how The CW launched The Flash out of Arrow. Things still to come on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s second season will be used to lay the groundwork for the potential new series. This means that by the end of the season, we should have an idea of what the spinoff will entail.
There are a number of routes the spinoff could go, including solo series for Adrianne Palicki as Mockingbird, Brett Dalton as Grant Ward, Chloe Bennett as Daisy "Skye" Johnson, or J. August Richards as Deathlok. And then there are concepts the show has already introduced, such as Hydra, Agent 33, Major Glenn Talbot, the Inhumans, the Kree, etc.
The article claims the spinoff will debute on ABC as soon as this fall, but could be a midseason replacement similar to how Agent Carter filled in the show's winter hiatus. There's also the matter of S.H.I.E.L.D. not being officially renewed yet, and ABC still has to choose select which pilots will receive series orders, which could affect the spinoff plans. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. currently averages 7.4 million viewers and a 2.8 rating among adults 18-49, when including seven days of DVR playback.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. airs Tuesday nights on ABC at 9 p.m. EST.