It hasn't exactly flown as high in the ratings as its US network hosts might have liked, and it sometimes suffers from looking cheaper compared to its big budget movie cousins, but Marvel's Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. has kept plugging away, growing better with each passing season and now earning the chance to keep evolving with a fourth year of life.
The new bosses at the ABC network have announced that the show will return, handing down an early renewal that should help the creative team maintain the writers, crew and cast that keep the show ticking over.
With Clark Gregg, Ming-Na-Wen, Chloe Bennet, Elizabeth Henstridge, Iain De Caestecker, Brett Dalton and more making up the cast, the show continues to thrive in the Marvel Universe, and is currently deep in the Secret Warriors plot line, with our heroes trying to forge an alliance with the Inhunmans that have started to crop up across the globe. The show returns to the US next week and will be back on UK screens via E4 on March 27.
Throwing a slight damper on the good news is a lack of a similar renewal for companion series Agent Carter. While the show is far from cancelled, recent news of star Hayley Atwell taking a job on another series isn't a great sign, even if she could split her time between the shows. We'll stay hopeful on that front, but the skies are certainly cloudy.