Agent Carter star Enver Gjokaj talks his return on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Peggy Carter’s ending

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. continued its seventh and final season with Wednesday night’s episode Alien Commies From the Future!, which brought back a familiar face, Enver Gjokaj’s Daniel Sousa from Agent Carter.

Sousa was Peggy Carter’s (Hayley Atwell) love interest in the short-lived series, which only spanned two shortened seasons on ABC between 2015 and 2016.

Gjokaj spoke with Entertainment Weekly ahead of tonight’s episode, where he offered his thoughts on Peggy reuniting with Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans) at the end of the 2019 blockbuster Avengers: Endgame.

Agent Carter was set in the year 1946, after Peggy Carter’s beau Steve Rogers was presumed dead, only to be literally thawed out and brought back to life in the 21st Century.

While Carter and Rogers did reunite on Carter’s deathbed in 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Steve used the Time Stone to go back in time and live out his days in an alternate timeline with Peggy in Avengers: Endgame.

In Agent Carter, though, Gjokaj’s Sousa was Peggy’s main love interest, and when the actor was asked how he felt about the Avengers: Endgame ending where Steve and Peggy reunited in an alternate timeline, Gjokaj had an interesting response.

‘To be honest, it’s so clear in the writing and it’s so clear in the way Hayley plays it that [Steve] was never gonna be replaced,’ the actor began.

‘I think that was the beautiful tragedy of his attraction to her is that he knew that and he wanted to be with her anyway,’ he continued.

‘He knew he was always going to be second place, and I think that’s a little heartbreaking about Sousa,’ Gjokaj added.

Wednesday night’s episode featured Jemma Simmons (Elisabeth Henstridge) impersonating Peggy Carter as the team found themselves in the 1950s.

Simmons and Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg) find themselves getting arrested by Sousa, who sees right through Simmons’ impression.

Sousa was last seen in the Agent Carter finale, making out with Peggy Carter, with co-showrunner Jeff Bell telling EW in April fans will see a different side to Sousa.

‘We get to see him in a different light. (Sousa) had a particular role on (Agent Carter), and so we were able to show another color of him that you hadn’t necessarily seen on the show,’ Bell added.

Gjokaj will return as Sousa in next week’s episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. airing Wednesday, June 17 on ABC.

He has also appeared on ABC’s The Rookie and Emergence earlier this year.