Agents of SHIELD Season 3 Predictions: Where does SHIELD go from Here?

As we come to the close of SHIELD season 2, let’s look back quickly on what has happened and speculate on where the show could go in season 3.

Season 1: A resurrected Phil Coulson assembles a new SHIELD team, complete with a variety of pieces. The team holds together well until the season stalls waiting for the reveal in Captain America: Winter Soldier that Hydra has infiltrated deeply into SHIELD, destroying it, with one of their own, Agent Ward, being a Hydra member. So the remaining team goes underground.

Season 2: More members come on the team as Coulson keeps at work. Skye, the hacker who was hunting for her history, turns out to be an Inhuman, a genetic deviant in humanity when exposed to certain things gain powers. Through her, we see more Inhumans. Some of the new additions turn out to be working for another SHIELD. Ward seems to maybe be on the road to redemption until May tricks him into killing his girlfriend.

[divider] Agents of SHIELD Season 3 Predictions [/divider]

So where does the show go from here?

1. The Caterpillars. Clave did a great job explain the crew that was found in the Secret Warriors comics. It is a great plot idea to have Skye and Coulson hustling around to find this new team and put them together. It could easily be the focus on season 3. And I hope Lincoln is the first recruit!
2. Ward elevates in his villainy. At the end of the season 2, we see angry Ward grabbing the leftover pieces of Hydra and threatening to go out into the world to wreak havoc, fueled by his sadness at the death of Agent 33. While I used to think there was a long play story where Ward is redeemed, that idea seems dead and forgotten. Unless he pulls a Vader, sacrifices himself and makes out with Skye before breathing his last breath.
3. Morse and Hunter. With the decision to not spin off Morse and Hunter into their own show (I feel like we dodged a bullet there!), I am curious to see what happens from here with them. If May takes a break, Morse becomes the strikeforce leader I would guess. But against what exactly? Without a doubt, the scenes with those 2 characters were some of the best of the finale and I hope they move that plot forward and not backward.
4. Alien stuff and science! They could easily spin Mac, Fitz and Simmons into a bizarro X-Files kind of team. When the two SHIELDs merged, it seemed to coalesce around the idea that alien stuff needed to be collected and put out of the reach of people. Honestly, it is the only reason Mac stuck around and Coulson seems to endorse that idea. Assuming Simmons makes it out of the brick blob, it could be a cool development.
5. Wild speculation:

Mac’s exposure to Kree stuff comes up again and he gains powers, much to his chagrin. (And the Kree have got to get more exposure in this MCU world, especially if they hold true to the origin story of Carol Danvers as Captain Marvel!)

Coulson gets a sweet bionic arm. He won’t be as cool as Deathlok/Mike Peterson but it could be close.

We get more movie cameos. If you are going to keep this series, which if we are honest serves as a promo for the movies, it is time to respect it and give us some serious connections. My hope would be a Black Panther sighting; maybe the crew roadtrips to Wakanda!

There you have it, a few Agents of SHIELD season 3 predictions. How long do we have to wait again?