Without a doubt, the biggest twist of “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” last season came when Agent Grant Ward revealed himself as a traitor to the team, a sleeper agent secretly working for John Garrett, the Clairvoyant, all along.

Now Ward finds himself locked in a cell, estranged from his teammates after betraying them and almost killing Fitz and Simmons in the season finale.

Given Ward’s unique situation heading into Season 2, we spoke with actor Brett Dalton about the character’s current arc, how much he’s willing to work with S.H.I.E.L.D., and growing a beard for the new season.

Ward returns in Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Brett Dalton: Well, it really is a function of reality more than anything else. At the end of Season 1, Ward has been punched in the esophagus by May and he’s hauled off after seeing his mentor Garrett dead in a high-powered casket right next to him. We open Season 2 and some time has passed. That’s all I can say, some time has passed, and I haven’t really had access to a razor, so it just happens to work out that I have a beard and beards can have a sort of evil connotation. [laughs] It wasn’t like I went to the writers and said, “You know what? Let’s go there.” We try to just be realistic about the circumstances, and he’s a dangerous guy. They wouldn’t provide him in his containment like that with anything that couldn't possibly be used as a weapon.

Marvel.com: When we ended Season 1, Ward didn’t really get a redemptive moment at that point. Where do we pick up with him in Season 2? Is he still unapologetic for the things he did, or is there something else underneath that?

Brett Dalton: Well, that’s a good question. I think we got a hint at that in the season finale. Who is Grant Ward without Agent Garrett? He’s always number two. He can follow commands really well. He can do and make tough choices and he can sometimes do unpleasant things in the name of something that he feels he believes in. But we’re not exactly sure who Grant Ward is without somebody telling him what to do. We got a bit of that because with Garrett, Grant Ward was just asking for something. “Give me something to do! What do I do now?” And Garrett was like, “You’ve done it! We’ve accomplished it! We got there.” I don’t think that Ward knows the answer to that question himself. And now we have a full season to explore that. “Who is he without someone telling him what to do?” You’ll find out. I’ve had a lot of time to think about that question. I’m really happy that the writers didn’t try to rush a little redemptive arc at the end of last season because I really do think it would have felt rushed. Now we have a whole season to explore that.

I think it’s a good thing that we got some opportunities in the last season to explore Ward’s past. All that stuff about his family and his brothers and his troubled childhood and Garrett coming along when he was in the juvenile hall and opening a door saying, “Do you want the red pill or the blue pill?” We saw a lot of his past. Now I think we’re going to see a lot of his future and what he decides to do from here on out.

Marvel.com: I guess at this point, would you say he’s willing to work with and help S.H.I.E.L.D., or does he still see Coulson as an enemy or target?

Ward betrayed the team last season for Garrett

Marvel.com: Former Agent Ward. A man with a heart and a beard.

Brett Dalton: A heart, and now a beard! [laughs]

Marvel.com: Speaking of his relationships, I spoke with Chloe the other day and she was talking about how she personally ships SkyeWard. I was curious, as a fan do you still personally hope for the chance for them to eventually get together and find some redemption there?

Brett Dalton: Yeah, I do. It’s an unconventional or an unlikely couple. You can have somebody who doesn’t have any people skills but has all of these technical skills, and then you have someone who’s kind of the opposite. A lot of the way that Skye operates is with instinct. She leads with her heart first and the technical stuff, “Eh, I’ll learn that later.” She makes it up as she goes along and a lot of those missions, she saves the day because she thinks completely unconventionally, whereas I’m an expert at risk assessment so I would say, “No, you can’t get into that vault because they have laser grids.” And she goes, “Why don’t I just sweet talk the guard?” And sometimes that works. “What the hell, how’d that work?”

I think that they’re good for each other and also really harmful for each other, as you saw in the last episodes where they’re really hurt by each other and able to really cause the other person a lot of heartbreak. That only happens when you really care about somebody, so I do personally ship it and it would be a lovely thing to see happen. Much like the great onscreen couples, it’s much more complicated. From the outside in viewing it, you’re like, “Oh my god, it’s perfect, if only!” But sometimes the “if only” is a big “if only,” and that’s what we have here.

Despite Ward's betrayal Brett still ships SkyeWard

Brett Dalton: Yeah, or if only she would forgive me for a couple of little things that I did. I would love to see them get together, and it seems like we have a lot of fans who are on that ship as well.

Marvel.com: Earlier you were talking about how Ward is a wild card. I know last season you didn’t learn that he was a traitor until maybe a week before you shot the scene. This year do you know a little bit more of where Ward is going?

Brett Dalton: Initially they were keeping their cards really close to the chest, and even now they are, but there are little hints in the writing that I’m picking up that I’m taking and running with them. So even though they haven’t really, literally given me an idea of where exactly this is headed--and they do know, I know that they know--I feel like there’s enough in the writing that I’m getting a lot. I just found some things in there that I really embraced, and I have my own theory about where this is all going and I hope I’m right. What more can I say? [laughs] He’s a very smart guy, and it seems that he’s perhaps turned over a new leaf. But at the same time there’s a question of why [he’s done that], and I have my own theories but I think that’s what the audience is going to feel as well. He seems to be doing this, but why? I’ve sort of filled in the line and it seems to be working.

All these team members are really successful when something is happening and there’s something else entirely happening underneath. So I think this team, not only are they really well written, but we get a ton of backstory and a ton of chemistry. We get all that stuff for free. Anytime one of us is in the room now with me, we get all that other stuff. All the missions we’ve been on, all the shared sandwiches we’ve had, all of that stuff is there in the room as well. I feel like the scenes that we’ve shot so far have a lot of good stuff on top, with the theme, and then there’s a whole lot of juicy subtext going on as well. It’s great. We’re really building on all of the stuff that we built in Season 1, but not in a precious way, either. [We’re] introducing new characters, completely new storylines, [but] also going places where people are not expecting us to go.

Catch the season premiere of “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” Tuesday, September 23 at its new time, 9:00 p.m. ET on ABC, and stay tuned to Marvel.com for the latest on your favorite agents!