‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s’ Jeff Ward explains how he was cast as Deke Shaw
“Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s” Elizabeth Henstridge, Natalia Cordova-Buckley and Iain De Caestecker help Jeff Ward explain how he got cast as Deke Shaw.
Reporting from San Diego — “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D” is no stranger to surprise developments. And sometimes they even happen behind the scenes.
When the cast of the ABC show visited the L.A. Times’ video studio at Comic-Con last week, Jeff Ward told the story of how he was cast as Deke Shaw for Season 5 to help show how fast certain developments and changes can happen off camera.
“I was cast as Virgil. I was supposed to play Virgil, and I got to the table read,” said Ward.
“You nailed it in the table read,” added Elizabeth Henstridge (who plays Jemma Simmons).
“He nailed it as Virgil,” agreed Natalia Cordova-Buckley (Yo-Yo Rodriguez). “We loved him so much.”
Unfortunately, Virgil was a character that (as Iain De Caestecker helped explain) died immediately. But the cast loved Ward so much they rallied to get him a part that would last a little bit longer (Deke will return for Season 6).
“At the end of the table read, we all went to our bosses and said, ‘He’s got to be Deke, he’s so amazing, we can’t lose him after one episode,’ ” said Henstridge.
Find out more in the video above.
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