What Does Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Latest Death Mean for Daisy?

When Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. first introduced the character of Ruby (Dove Cameron), it was easy to assume, "Oh, hey! This is definitely the girl that ends up destroying the world. She's bonkers!" Now though, her death after absorbing only eight percent of the Gravitonium has left us wondering if Daisy (Chloe Bennet) might end up being the Destroyer of Worlds after all.

After biting off more than she could chew, Ruby started to lose all control of her new powers, leaving Yo-Yo to make the snap decision to not only avenge her long, lost arms but seemingly save the world. She slashed Ruby's throat, killing the girl and stopping the maelstorm of energy coming off of her.

Daisy was predictably pissed, but General Hale (Catherine Dent) is probably the one to watch out for. Her new Kree buddies seem all too happy to help her get revenge on S.H.I.E.L.D., and I've got a bad feeling that revenge could be what ends up causing the earth to crack apart in the end.

Here to help up sort out this time loop and Daisy's fate is Jeff Ward, who's added a great new dynamic to the season this year as FitzSimmons' future grandchild, Deke.

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Daisy seems even more destined to be The Destroyer of Worlds now that Ruby is dead. Do you think that's her future, especially since it's technically Deke's past?
Jeff Ward: I don't know. I think Deke personally, probably doesn't want to think of his crush as the Destroyer of Worlds. When you're driven by other emotions, I think it changes things. I don't know if Deke's ever been in love before - I'm not saying he is, but he's never had feelings towards someone before. When that happens and you have feelings for someone, I feel like it makes you do crazy things, and it makes you do things that don't necessarily make sense. Even if the most sensible answer is that nothing can be changed, I think there's a lot of emotions riding through everybody to kind of be like, "I won't accept that, and I'm going to do everything to change it." Whether they're right or not still remains to be seen, I guess.

Deke's crush on Daisy is super adorable, but do you think those feelings are reciprocated in any way?
Ward: Um, no. [Laughs]...I think Daisy has obviously been through a lot romantically. I think more than anything it's just not something that's at all anywhere close to her radar with anyone. With her new identity in the team and everything with Coulson, obviously her potentially being the person that ends humanity -- I feel like romance is not even anywhere close to the top of the list. If it were somewhere close would she feel any differently? Probably not.... But Deke's never met anyone like that before, so even in spite of these pretty dramatic circumstances he's in, I think he can't help it.

Personally, I think he'd be great for her. She needs someone to lighten her up.
Ward: Thank you very much. That's all I'm saying!

What is Deke's take on the time loop? Is it fixed or does he think they can change the future?
Ward: The science would mostly back Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) up, but I also think you've got to hold out hope. It feels to me like even though the science is sound, you've got to at least try, and then by virtue of trying does that change things? I don't know. I think he's as confused as everyone is, which is an exciting playground.

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Now that he's had time to process it, how does Deke feel about the fact that Fitz and Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) are his grandparents?
Ward: It's weird because Deke has become so comfortable with being a loner and not letting anyone get too close to him because in his experience that just leads to him being hurt or hurting other people or worse. I feel like a big engine that drives who he is, is that he lost his mom in the way that he did as a kid. So I think he's kind of spent his whole life looking for a family. Secretly, I think he feels very forlorn, looking for a family and to belong somewhere. He's kind of confused because it's exciting, the prospect of that being able to come true. But at the same time, your grandfather is someone who drives you absolutely mental. I feel like Deke has a special thing with Simmons because obviously him and Fitz have a prickly relationship, but I think Simmons really reminds him of his mom. I think she's the one person that kind of looks out for Deke a little bit.

What do you think Deke's endgame goal is here? Does he want to return to a fixed future or remain in the past?
Ward: I honestly think Deke doesn't really know. I think he's kind of like, "What? What!?" Everything he knew just kind of went out the window. It's kind of like if all the sudden if I woke up and gravity didn't exist. It'd kind of be like, "Well, all right. This is a whole new thing I've got to figure out!"

I feel like this experience changed him a lot. When I think about who he was in the future, as it were, and who he was at the beginning of the season? He's really different and everything has had a big effect on him. I think it's softened him in a lot of ways because the world he came from was so hardened by violence and death that I think having ice cream and getting drunk for the first time and having a crush on someone and getting a relationship with your grandparents -- all of those things have dramatically changed what he thought life was and what it was all about. It's weird because I found him to be a lot more grizzled in the beginning, and I don't think a lot of grizzled characters have that kind of trajectory. It's kind of just naturally what happened. Even though the future is what he's more familiar with, I think he's very happy in the present. I think he counts his blessings, like, "I can't believe I'm here! I'm going to milk this as long as I can."

He's gotten to kind of be a kid, finally, in the past.
Ward: Exactly! He never got to have a childhood because he's one of the last humans that was born naturally that wasn't created by the Kree. I feel like he was born into slavery and never got to be a kid, so this is him making up for that.

The season finale is ominously titled, "The End," and it might also serve as a series finale. How would you describe the episode and do you think it will satisfy fans either way?
Ward: Epic, it's epic. I think it's some of the more epic territory that the show has crossed into in its entirety as a series. I think the fans are going to really think it's something. It's very emotional, a lot happens. I will say, I didn't know if they would be able to pull off the series slash season finale vibe, and it kind of potentially serving as both, and I think they've nailed it. They absolutely nailed it. Because if it is the end, it is a satisfying one, but I also think that the fans are going to be clamoring for more. It has a beautiful journey that it goes on, but I think there's more to be said afterwards. Whether it'll get that chance, you never know, but it's just an incredible episode, and I enthusiastically call it epic.

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. airs Fridays at 9/8c on ABC.