That step seems to revolve around Ming-Na Wen's second "SHIELD" character, Agent 33. She and Ward have a clear connection and end the fall finale by heading off together and starting what Dalton calls "another chapter for Ward's journey."
Wen finds Agent 33 to be an exciting challenge. "I mean, how do you play a character that is brainwashed and lost and don't know really what direction to go in? She's so completely the antithesis of May, who knows so much and has all these secrets and has a real definite opinion and idea of what's right and wrong," she tells Zap2it. "To play a character like [Agent 33] is just so much fun where she's emotional and raw; she's like a child -- and a nasty scar on her face."