Season 2 could see the return of Miles Lydon, the Rising Tide member and Skye's ex-boyfriend, as part of the underground SHIELD is forced to mine for whatever resources they can muster. "A huge part of Coulson's job right now is to sort of reach out and try to find all the resources he can get. Does the Rising Tide play into that? Maybe," said Maurissa Tancharoen.
The next season will also continue the paranoia from the end of season one. Said Jeffrey Bell:
Once we could say 'HYDRA' and there were double-crosses and spies in our midst, the show got really interesting, and so [we're] continuing that with SHIELD and Coulson not willing to trust people and not willing to bring people in, but having to because he doesn't have as many resources; we think we can keep that 'trust no one' alive.
There won't, however, be another massive event: "Fortunately there will not be a movie that comes out that destroys SHIELD, so our approach is definitely different this year. In terms of game-changers, that's hard to beat," said Jed Whedon.