Efforts were made to differentiate the younger May shown in flashbacks to the present day version of the character, and Blair Underwood guest stars as May's then husband Andrew Garner.

In flashbacks to 2008, Phil Coulson and Melinda May traveled to Bahrain to confront an enhanced individual named Eva Belyakov, who possesses super-strength.

She finds them acting out of character, and they attack her, but she defeats them and kills Eva in a fight, before discovering her young daughter, Katya, is the real threat, having taken control of the hostages to feed on their pain.

Theta Protocol is the main reason Robert Gonzales' faction instigated their coup, fearing Coulson is building a secret army of superhumans.

Jiaying becomes upset and tells her that she was born on July 2, 1988, revealing herself as Skye's mother and explaining that after she was mutilated by Daniel Whitehall, her body was repaired by Cal and her own healing abilities resurrected her.

Jiaying convinces Skye to visit Cal, and the family surprisingly enjoy their evening together, but Lincoln witnesses them together and realizes Raina's nightmares may be prophetic visions.

"[3] In March 2015, Marvel revealed that main cast members Clark Gregg, Wen, Chloe Bennet, Iain De Caestecker, Elizabeth Henstridge, Nick Blood, and Adrianne Palicki would star as Phil Coulson, Melinda May, Skye, Leo Fitz, Jemma Simmons, Lance Hunter, and Bobbi Morse, respectively.

[1] It was also revealed that the guest cast for the episode would include Henry Simmons as Alphonso "Mack" Mackenzie, Ruth Negga as Raina, Kyle MacLachlan as Calvin Zabo, Jamie Harris as Gordon, Christine Adams as Anne Weaver, Blair Underwood as Andrew Garner, Dichen Lachman as Jiaying, Luke Mitchell as Lincoln Campbell, Kris Lemche as Ethan, Terrell Tilford as Agent Hart, Derek Phillips as Agent O'Brien, Winter Ave Zoli as Eva Belyakov, Ava Acres as Little Girl / Katya Belyakov, Brendan Wayne as Assistant, Ben Wise as Blue Jacket, Omid Zader as Burly Gangster, Hani Al Naimi as Fiasal El-Hashem, Houshang Touzie as Colonel, Branden Morgan as Tac Agent #1, Alex Paez as Tac Agent #2, and Antonio Leon as Bahranian Soldier.

[1] Acres, Wayne, Wise, Zader, Al Naimi, Touzie, Morgan, Paez, and Leon did not receive guest star credit in the episode.

She always had a scary side to her, but at the same time there was a lightness, and a lot of love, and she was able to show her sexiness with Andrew, and her playfulness with Coulson in her earlier part of her life, before this event happened.

The different artists were once again chosen to create the teaser posters, based on their previous work and how it connected to the themes and emotion of the intended episode.