The seventh and final season of the American television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., based on the Marvel Comics spy organization S.H.I.E.L.D., follows S.H.I.E.L.D.

The season was produced by ABC Studios, Marvel Television, and Mutant Enemy Productions, with Jed Whedon, Maurissa Tancharoen, and Jeffrey Bell serving as showrunners.

Clark Gregg stars as a Life Model Decoy of agent Phil Coulson, reprising his role from the film series, alongside returning series regulars Ming-Na Wen, Chloe Bennet, Elizabeth Henstridge, Henry Simmons, Natalia Cordova-Buckley, and Jeff Ward.

He attributed the decision to ABC watching early work on season six and believing the crew had found "another wave of energy" that they wanted to see continue.

He explained that the cast and crew had originally expected the series to end with the fifth season, and had put other plans on hold to make the sixth.

Having this knowledge allowed them to build the season specifically to "tie up any threads" and try to create a satisfying conclusion to the story.

[35] The writers looked at other films and television series that have used time travel to see where they went wrong, and over or under explained concepts.

Gregg did not want the character to become similar to Data from Star Trek, "the cyber being following [the team] around doing fast math".

Bennet added that Daisy Johnson is more like her Skye personality in the season now she is "more comfortable with who she is ... what she wants to do is be with the people that she loves and cares about, and save the world.

Fulfilling the promise the writers had to give Daisy a love interest each season, they felt Sousa as a "man out of time" would work.

[43] Bennet was "hesitant" for her character to get another love interest, feeling her journey throughout the season was "about finding herself" and exploring her relationship with Coulson and her S.H.I.E.L.D.

[45] Natalia Cordova-Buckley said in the season, Elena "Yo-Yo" Rodriguez "sits back and becomes a team member", supporting Director Mack.

Rodriguez has less of a personal struggle in the season than in the past "because she owns who she is and she's now decided to be part of the force, as a unit and not as an individual".

"[48] The absence of Leo Fitz for much of the season allowed the writers to bring Jemma Simmons and her grandson Deke Shaw closer together.

[50] With the season renewal, main cast members Ming-Na Wen, Chloe Bennet, Iain De Caestecker, Elizabeth Henstridge, Henry Simmons, Natalia Cordova-Buckley, and Jeff Ward were confirmed to be returning from previous seasons as Melinda May, Daisy Johnson / Quake, Leo Fitz, Jemma Simmons, Alphonso "Mack" Mackenzie, Elena "Yo-Yo" Rodriguez, and Deke Shaw, respectively.

[29] The renewal did not include series' star Clark Gregg,[29] but Jed Whedon stated in April 2019 that the producers "firmly believe that any season would have to have him in it".

[38] Despite being announced as a main cast member for the season,[51] De Caestecker does not appear in the first ten episodes,[52] as he was committed to other projects,[53] creating scheduling conflicts.

[25] Briana Venskus, Maximilian Osinski, and Coy Stewart reprise their roles from previous seasons, respectively as Piper, Davis, and Flint, in the series finale.

It was created to be a "consistent and memorable" through line for all the various musical genres featured in the season,[83] which include "1940s noire saxophones, 1950s theremin, 1970s wah-wah guitar and bongos, and 1980s synths".

[14] In the third episode, which features Daniel Sousa, references are made to the second season of Agent Carter, including the defeat of Hugh Jones and the Council of Nine.

[84] The fifth episode depicts "Project Insight", a major plot point in Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), as taking place in the 1970s due to the Chronicoms changing history.

Club felt the season was giving off "strong Legends of Tomorrow vibes", saying, "The rollicking nature of its time-travel adventures, fused with a slightly more absurdist sensibility than past seasons, is giving these episodes the feel of a victory lap, the show loosening up and enjoying its high-concept potential without the worry of delivering the goods to ensure another year.

Each member of the team was allowed "to shine" and "the focus is solely on the characters and the mission, which helps to create a tightly-knit adventure that doesn't waste any time.

ends its 136-episode run as one of the most successful science fiction superhero television offerings and earns top grades overall.

Bricken concluded that the time travel of the season could have looked "very different" had Endgame not done it first, since "Disney, ABC, and Marvel Studios wouldn't have approved anything that even appeared like the TV series was having some effect on the MCU proper, no matter how minor.

Sandwell felt with the couple separated, as a "key element" of the series, it was hard for the final season to be the "victory lap and celebration" it should.

[123] After the fifth episode of the season, McLevy said "the show better start paying dividends... on [the FitzSimmons] story, because it has cut its own legs out from underneath by dragging out Fitz's absence this long."

Right now, it's just [Jemma Simmons] failing to express any concern for the biggest person in her life, and without revealing the causes for that, the storyline gradually deflates from the delay.

"[72] McLevy later added the "couple was the biggest emotional investment the show ever created, and they've just sputtered it out in the final two seasons.

"[124] Syfy Wire's Trent Moore stated it was "impossible to overestimate how much [Fitz's] presence has been missed this year".