This week in the mid-season finale of "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.," Grant Ward (Brett Dalton) finally met his demise in the hands of Coulson (Clark Gregg).
The hour saw Fitz finding Will on the alien planet, but later he learned that Will is really dead and his body was inhabited by an ancient Inhuman. Fitz was left with no choice but to shoot Will. Elsewhere on the alien planet, Coulson faced off against Ward and was able to bring him down using his robotic hand, and while Coulson could have left Ward stranded on the planet, the former S.H.I.E. L.D. director pressed Ward's chest until he stopped breathing. However, the Inhuman that used Will's body as a host slithered over to Ward, and it looks like while the real Ward is dead, his body will still be around when the show returns next year.
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, executive producer Jeff Bell talked about Coulson's actions, as the way that he killed Ward was completely out of character for the agent. Right before Coulson made the decision to kill Ward, he had a vision of Rosalind, his lover whom Ward killed in the previous season.
"The fact that Ward took Rosalind away from him enraged him in such a way that he compromised his character, albeit in a very cool, epic way," Bell explained. But the producer said that when the show returns, Coulson won't feel good about his actions.
"That's going to be something he'll have to figure out and come to terms with in the back half of the season," Bell revealed.
Bell also said that Dalton will be back and that having the actor around serves the series well as Ward has personal relationships with a lot of the characters on the show.
"Coulson believes that he left that person dead on another planet as does Fitz," said Bell, adding that should Coulson and Ward run into each other when the show returns, their encounter will be "fairly explosive and interesting."
"Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." season 3 returns on March 8 at 9 p.m. on ABC.
