‘Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.EL.D.’: Brett Dalton On What’s Next For Framework Grant Ward

Brett Dalton recently returned to “Marvel’s Agents of
S.H.I.E.L.D.” as a kinder, more heroic version of Grant Ward than we’ve
seen before.

While the real Grant Ward died a while ago on the wrong side
of “S.H.I.E.L.D.” (and then again as a Hydra god who exploded in
space), the newest version, who lives in the AIDA-created Framework, is a
secret agent, working inside Hydra as a secret S.H.I.E.L.D. rebel. And with his
Framework girlfriend, Daisy/Skye, now captured
by Hydra and about to be tortured at the hands of Framework Fitz, we could see
an attempt at a rescue mission.

“I think that what we’ve seen from Ward is that if
nothing else, he is a determined and capable son of a b*tch, and if he sets his
mind to something, he’s going to do it,” Brett Dalton, who plays the
character, told AccessHollywood.com ahead of Tuesday’s new episode. “Up
until now we’ve seen in the Framework that they are [an] incredibly, relatively
well-adjusted loving couple and healthy couple. So, I think that, in the
Framework or in the real world, you don’t want to be on Ward’s bad side and I
think that he is now a man with a mission and I don’t think that’s out of the
question. He is certainly not going to sit still.”

WATCH: ‘Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.’: Brett Dalton, Maurissa Tancharoen & Jed Whedon On Grant Ward’s ‘What If’ Appearance

Many of Ward’s scenes in the Framework have seen him paired with Jemma Simmons, who has been struggling to wrap her head around this good guy version of Ward. Expect that relationship to continue to be a rocky one.

“Any scene with Simmons – I mean, much like Skye, you can’t undo or un-see all of the stuff that happened in the last three seasons,” Brett said. “Framework Ward doesn’t know any of that, but they are reading all of this on top of him and so I think it’s going to be an uphill battle with Simmons because she’s carrying around all of these prejudices against him as she always pretty much has, but I don’t think that it’s an impossible thing. I think that we see some uneasy alliances in here, and we see some unconventional ones. We’re in the Framework now, so anything can happen.”

WATCH: ‘Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.’: Chloe Bennet Teases A ‘Different World’ & Jeph Loeb Talks ‘Consequences’ In The Framework

Asked if he had a lot of questions for his executive producers to play this Framework version of Ward, who is inside this computer generated reality, Brett said he did, but he also used his imagination to fill in backstory points when he needed to.

“I had some questions about it, but … we’ve all seen ‘The Matrix.’ I think we get the idea of virtual reality world where there’s a real world outside of it and you’re sort of plugged in and if you die in the virtual reality world, you die in real life. And, it speaks to the power of the mind and the whole thing — it felt familiar,” Brett said. “I feel like I definitely got that aspect of it and then the Grant Ward thing — it felt like a good combination of some of the versions that we’ve seen up until now. And so that’s what was kind of exciting. There was some stuff that has been revealed and that will be revealed, but there are these smaller moments in there. Did he have a dog? … I don’t think this is even answered in the script, I’m just saying that these are small things that you’re sort of building in your own character and your backstory and all of that. Like, how were his parents? Were they similarly bad? Does he still have the same brothers and sisters? OK. What happened with those brothers and sisters? There’s a whole bunch of questions in there and sometimes I would just answer them myself, and I would just say, ‘Well, this isn’t necessarily in the script or that big of a story point. I am just going to pretend that this happened because it fuels me in a certain way.'”

“Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” continues Tuesday at 10/9c on ABC.

— Jolie Lash