Don’t Worry, That Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Twist Made

We finally know why Jemma needs to return to that barren wasteland of a planet she was trapped on for six whole months—and his name is Will.

That’s right, tonight’s excellent episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. revealed that Simmons was not alone after being sucked through the monolith. Instead, she found companionship in another human stranded in the alien land, an astronaut named Will who’d been sent there by N.A.S.A. with three other (now-deceased) space explorers 14 whole years ago. And as we saw, in the six months together, that companionship slowly blossomed into love—a love that was made super-long distance when Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) was able to rescue Jemma (Elizabeth Henstridge) while Will (Dillon Casey) was left behind.

Putting the heartbreak he must be suffering aside, Fitz leapt into action to help Jemma with her plan to rescue Will. But what does this mean for FitzSimmons?!

“I know! That’s what I was screaming when I was reading the script,” Henstridge tells E! News. “For right now, they’re putting all the issues in their relationship to the side because there’s a bigger task at hand and the countdown is on to get [Will] back. Jemma doesn’t know what happened to him, she doesn’t know if the monster got him at the end, so there’s a real time crunch on this one. So there isn’t the time to go into the minutiae.”

“That’s what’s so amazing about Fitz—and what Simmons can’t believe at the end of the episode—is that he doesn’t even question it. He just gets on with the task at hand, and he just has such a love for Jemma,” she adds. “Also, just moral-wise, he knows it’s the right thing to do, to try and get this human being who went there, not knowing that he was never meant to return. We need to get him back, so who knows what’s going to happen with them in the future. It’s not done, it’s a conversation that needs to be had, but now isn’t the time.”

When asked if Jemma is actually in love with Will, Henstridge is pretty certain. “She is. I think that they’ve been through something so enormous and when she had absolutely lost all hope, not even of getting home, but just of living, he was there and said the right thing. And I think in that moment, everything changed,” she explains. “Their connection is a very visceral one, and it’s about surviving, and it’s very primal. So, it’s a very different love than she has for Fitz, but yeah, she’s in love with him. And that’s the only reason she’s asking Fitz. Because if she just kind of fancied him, then she would never ask Fitz to do that, but the stakes are very high.”

Of course, as in any high stakes situation, a solution won’t be so easily won. “It’s a very rocky road,” Henstridge teases. “There’s a lot going on with S.H.I.E.L.D. at the moment, with the ATCU, and Hunter is on a mission to get Ward. There’s just a lot of moving parts that to ask the team to help us with this task is, you know, everyone’s stretched so thinly at the moment…and we destroyed the portal. And now we’ve got to try and figure out a way to get back there when we really just broke the bridge.”

Moving forward on their mission to rescue Will, Jemma and Fitz will find themselves in some uncomfortable situations. (Did you expect anything less?) “It’s a long task, and I think throughout that task, FitzSimmons will be working very closely and that’s going to kick up a whole host of issues surrounding their relationship,” Henstridge warns. “There’s a huge elephant in the room, and it’s going to get called out a few times, and it’s going to be painful. Get the tissues ready because it gets worse before it gets better.”

What do you think about Jemma’s new love triangle? Are you Team Fitz or Team Will? Sound off in the comments below.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on ABC.