As spoiled as we are these days with so many Marvel live-action series, it's hard to imagine a time when there weren't any at all. Now we have a wide array of Marvel shows, spanning different networks and streaming services, telling self-contained stories or sharing universes with each other and the MCU as a whole. But it could be said they all owe a debt to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. the one that started it all way back in 2013, when it launched on ABC. The first and longest running Marvel TV series has been getting better and better with each season, and bsed on what we've seen and heard about the long-awaited Season 6, the momentum hasn't been broken yet.

Fans got a sneak peek of the premiere episode, "Missing Pieces," at WonderCon last weekend, followed by a Q&A with the cast and producers. The episode picks up a year after the events of the Season 5 finale, which ended with the one-two gut punch of the death of Leo Fitz and impending death of Phil Coulson. In true S.H.I.E.L.D. style it answers some questions left hanging, and then poses even more. Since the sixth season was still unconfirmed as the writers were approaching the end of Season 5, they treated it as a potential series finale. And then they not only got that sixth season pickup, but a seventh as well. So now the characters will have to deal with the fallout of those events, while also facing some new enemies, including one with a very familiar face.

Collider had a chance to talk with the cast and producers after the panel, and got a preview of some of the excitement to come. Here are 10 things you should know about Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s upcoming sixth season, premiering May 10th on ABC.

1. No 'Infinity War' Tie-In

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Image via ABC

This one is actually more like something not to look for in the sixth season. One of the biggest questions Marvel fans had going into the Season 5 finale was whether the show would address the fallout from Thanos' snap at the end of Avengers: Infinity War, since the episodes leading up to it featured direct references to the movie. We didn't see any of the characters turn to ash, but the question still remained going into Season 6.

According to executive producer Jed Whedon, the show won't be dealing with the snap at all, thanks to some well-planned timing. "Some of these problems might be solved in the next Avengers movie," he said. "And so not knowing how they're going to handle some of that and the fans not knowing any of that stuff we felt like we couldn't touch it, because of the second movie that was going to come out where they're going to tell a whole new part of the story. So the fact that our air date is after works out. We'd always sort of planned that way. That we were going to wait until that movie comes out and then our story can continue without us having to address it."

2. An Expanded Universe to Explore

Image via ABC

At the beginning of last season it seemed like the team had been transported to space, and fans were excited about the prospects of S.H.I.E.L.D. operating in a more intergalactic capacity. As it turned out they were actually in a desolate future where the Earth had been cracked and destroyed. But this season, it looks like that promise of a thrilling sci-fi backdrop will finally be fulfilled, with half of the team searching for the formerly cryo-frozen Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) in space.

In Season 5, Fitz took "the long way" to the future by cryogenically freezing himself and then helped the team get back to the present and change the future. That meant there were actually two Fitz's existing at the same point in time, one from the future and the one still out there in the present, waiting to be awakened. The team managed to prevent the end of the world, but the Fitz from the future gave his life in the process. And it seems that altering the timeline and saving the world has put Frozen Fitz in danger as well. Now a determined Jemma (Elizabeth Henstridge) is tearing up the galaxy looking for her husband (who doesn't even know he's married) with a confident, powered-up Daisy (Chloe Bennet) and a small support team.

Henstridge said that the show's constantly evolving aesthetic keeps it interesting for the actors as well as the audience. "I feel like the whole show has a different look," she said of the new season. "The writers somehow manage to reinvent it every season and it makes it super fun for us to be in and hopefully fun to watch. It's the same characters we've known for so long, but somehow [the writers] end up putting them in situations that end up being awesome and that you can tell hours of story around. It's crazy. I get blown away every season."

3. Another Fitz-Simmons Reunion

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Image via ABC

Speaking of the show's most beleaguered romantic couple, we'll see at the beginning of the season that fate has torn them apart once again. But they've conquered space, time, and the bottom of the ocean before. A little thing like death isn't going to stop them. The multiple separations may have taken a toll on the couple (and fans too), but the upside is that they will always find each other again. And when they do, it's usually pretty epic.

De Caestecker wouldn't even confirm that there is a reunion coming this season at first, but then admitted it was basically inevitable. "What with different timelines and changing the course of time and all that kind of stuff, it seems like there's that constant thing that those two are [connected]."

In the same interview, Jeff Ward, who plays Fitz and Jemma's time-traveling grandson Deke, teased, "Some of the most interesting and eclectic and incredible Fitz and Simmons work I have ever seen is in this season."

For her part, Henstridge just wants them to get their happy ending. "Yeah, I want Fitz and Simmons to end up together! But you know at least there's a bit more hope now in Season 6. Season 5 was pretty dire for Fitz-Simmons in the end. So Season 6 I'm more hopeful for their ability to reunite."

When they do eventually reunite (and it's pretty clear they will), Fitz will have a lot of catching up to do. "They're in different phases because he has been frozen and she has not been frozen," Henstridge said. "So I think it will be a reunion that has maybe a bit of confusion about it."

4. Deke Is Back, But Not Right Away

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Image via ABC

When we last saw Deke at the end of Season 5, it was unclear whether the change in the timeline would cause him to blink out of existence or if he would continue on in our world as a remnant of a future that isn't going to happen now. The question was answered when the producers announced this summer that Ward would be returning in Season 6 as a regular cast member. Deke is still around, so what kind of trouble is he getting into as he runs around unsupervised in a world where the Earth never cracked apart? We don't find out in the premiere, but Ward promises it will be "soon."

"I love the character so much," he said. "So I really was excited to get to hang around with Deke more. Especially now that he's aware of being a Fitz-Simmons. It's very fun."

According to Ward, Deke is still coming to terms with the past world, but expect him to get along much in the same way he did in the future, always playing an angle. "First of all, just the sheer existence of anything other than this kind of apocalyptic, very dark and dismal future, the fact that all this other stuff even exists would throw anyone for a loop. So he continues to kind of have a junk drawer of different touchstones and what he thinks people are. And I think it's always being challenged. So I think you'll see a lot of how that kind of affects him."

5. Same Characters, New Directions

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Image via ABC

The Fitz-Simmons family aren't the only ones confronting personal crises this season. As the new head of S.H.I.E.L.D. Mack (Henry Simmons) has some big shoes to fill and takes his role seriously. When we see him again he's already started rebuilding the organization, but all that responsibility has taken a toll on his personal life. His former flame Elena "Yo-Yo" Rodriguez (Natalia Cordova-Buckley) has moved on and has found her own place within S.H.I.E.L.D.

"What I loved about that choice from our [executive producers] and our writers is that I was used to building Yo-Yo with a partner that she was really in love with and just giving her all," Cordova-Buckley said. And now she's in unknown waters for her. Having her ex be the boss and trying a new relationship with an agent under him. So it's just very interesting. It's an interesting challenge for me as an actor to kind of find another Yo-Yo."

We'll see both of them turning to the same person Coulson relied on for moral support in tough situations, -May (Ming-Na Wen). After sharing Coulson's final days in Tahiti (the real Tahiti this time), May has returned to the job and thrown herself into it, becoming a mentor for the new director and helping him recruit

As for Daisy, she's kicking ass and taking names out in space. So much so that the name Quake strikes fear, even on alien planets. Based on the one scene we saw at WonderCon, her already impressive fighting skills have become even more formidable. But as Jemma warns her, that approach risks getting the attention of some powerful foes along the way.

6. Phil Coulson Is Dead. Long Live Phil Coulson.

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Image via ABC

Of course, one of the most startling character turns in the season is a mysterious new adversary played by Clark Gregg, who looks like Coulson, but is actually someone else entirely. The writers and Gregg himself have confirmed that Coulson is truly dead this time, so who is this guy wearing his face?

We have one clue so far. Based on what Gregg and the writers are saying, it sounds like the character has a connection or an origin to someone (or multiple someones) already in the Marvel comics universe.

"They tear the thing down and start over," Gregg said. "And they cherry pick stuff that nobody's using from the comics. Ghost Rider or LMD's. The Framework. Different stuff that you're about to see. I feel really lucky, honestly, because I get to do so much cool stuff. And this season they came to me toward the end of five and said, "We don't think you're going to weasel out of this. We think Coulson really may be finished at the end of Season 5. But we have an idea for Season 6. You get to play somebody new. Someone who's not as necessarily as big hearted and heroic."

Gregg added that the character is an aggregate of some characters from the comics. "That's kind of one of the things I think has made the show even stronger is the way they take material and turn it into our own," Gregg said. "So this one they really ended up taking some things that will seem familiar to comic book fans, but then really inventing their own new template for this year."

7. More LGBT Representation

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Image via ABC

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has a commendable history of diversity in its cast, but with the exception of a minor character in Season 3, there hasn't been many instances of LGBT representation on the show. But in the season premiere we meet a new character who speaks longingly about losing the love of his life. "He died," he says. It's a quick, blink-and-you'll-miss-it reference, but it's there. And it looks like this character may be sticking around for a bit, so it will be interesting to see if the show delves further into his personal life and history.

Cordova-Buckley, who has embraced her status as a role model in the form of Columbian superhero Yo-Yo Rodriguez, shared that we'll continue to see more inclusion and talked about what the show's take on diversity means to her.

"It's coming," she said. "I've always seen S.H.I.E.L.D., if I were to put it in the real world, as the best representation of humanity. It's people from all over the world. Different races, different languages, different cultures, genders, coming together. And the super power, yeah, we might have super powers, but the super power really of all of them is their love for humanity and constantly sacrificing themselves to save us and save the world. And it's a great representation of what we all could be."

8. Some Light in the Darkness

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Image via ABC

The last half of Season 5 was fraught with discord and divisiveness, and the heartbreaking culmination of the finale left so many in tears (fans and crew members alike). It's about time we had some lighthearted moments to balance out all that tragedy. That's exactly what executive producers Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen are trying to deliver in Season 6.

"By necessity where our character's arcs were landing, by the end of Season 5 we had to stay in the dark," Tancharoen said.

"In the bittersweet," Whedon added. "And that's also I would say a symptom of the amount of time we've spent. I don't think the show has necessarily gotten darker as much as our relationships with the characters have deepened. So we've done tragic stuff every year. But now it gets worse. I know shooting the end of [Season 5] was super emotional for everyone on set. And so to us, we like that stuff because that's life. Life has that bittersweet end. It does. But this year I will say there's definitely stuff that falls on the other end of the spectrum."

It also appears that the show is getting some literal light as well. It's always nice when the team escapes the dark confines of the soundstage into the bright sunlight, as they do in the premiere's final action sequence.

9. Shorter Seasons, Tighter Stories

Image via ABC

The double season pickup last year came with a caveat. Rather than having the usual 22 episodes, Seasons 6 and 7 will be 13 episodes each. That shorter time frame has allowed the writers to tell more compact stories over the course of a single season. In the past, they have approached the 22-episode seasons by breaking them up into smaller chunks they call "pods." For instance, in Season 4 they had the "Ghost Rider" arc, followed by "LMD," and then the Framework arc known as "Agents of Hydra." But with just 13 episodes, they are taking the entire season to tell a single, overarching story.

"You've seen how we break it up into sort of pods anyway," Tancharoen said. "Sort of like two mini seasons. So going into six and seven we were able to do that with the season's length."

"I will say it's a relief, because 22 [episodes] is a marathon," Whedon said. "We got to the end of 13 in Season 6 and went, 'Oh, okay.'"

As for the actors, Gregg said they are enjoying the new shorter format as well. "We love the 13 episode of it all. It just feels much more like the streaming and cable series that we're all watching and lets us focus and tell the story in 13 episodes. It's intense. It's a lot."

10. Hang On to That Cliff

Image via ABC

Unlike in seasons past, where the producers didn't know until the last minute whether they'd be getting to do another season or not, Season 7 was always guaranteed to follow the end of Season 6. This left the writers with the ability to plant seeds at the end of one season they knew they would be able to pay off in the next. Which means we're probably in for a doozy of a cliffhanger in the upcoming finale.

"It does give us the freedom at the end of [Season 6] to just have a big question mark," Whedon said. "We felt at the end of [Season 5] that we had to leave it in a satisfying way in case that was it."

"And we did approach the end of [Season 5] as a 'this is it' moment. And then we got the extra bonus of two more seasons."

There's a still 13 episodes to go before we get there, but given how the show has left us hanging in the past, we're going to need all that time to prepare. But there's certainly a lot to look forward to in the meantime.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. returns to ABC with all new episodes on May 10.