Actor Brett Dalton is pictured in Toronto as he promotes the television show "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." on Monday September 22, 2014. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

TORONTO - When producers called Brett Dalton in for a meeting halfway through the first season of "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.," the actor thought something was amiss.

"I got a 'We need to talk,' and I thought, 'Oh, man.' I really thought I was going to be fired, or the character was going to be killed off," recalled Dalton with a laugh. "Instead, I found out that obviously this big shift was happening."

Dalton plays Agent Grant Ward, a member of the peacekeeping task force Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., in the hit superhero series. But in a shocking twist last season, Ward was revealed to be a mole secretly working for villainous Hydra operative John Garrett (Bill Paxton).

The news took Dalton by surprise as much as anyone. But once he got out of that nerve-wracking meeting, he was excited to delve into darker territory with his character.

"I really embraced the change," he said. "I got to work with Bill Paxton, who was the Clairvoyant all along and pulling the strings from the very beginning. It was just so good to be bad with him."

"Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." returns Tuesday for a second season on CTV. A spin-off of Marvel's popular "Avengers" films, which also feature Clark Gregg as Agent Phil Coulson, the show's timeline is affected by what happens in the movies.

So the new season picks up after "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," in which — spoiler alert! — S.H.I.E.L.D. was destroyed after Captain America and Black Widow learned that terrorist organization Hydra permeated its highest levels.

"Season two picks up later. Some time has passed. That's all I can officially say. But the whole agency itself has changed and so has the world," said Dalton in an interview Monday.

"Nobody knows who are the good guys or who are the bad guys anymore. It's a very fraught landscape and S.H.I.E.L.D. is trying to rebuild. S.H.I.E.L.D. is under new management and we see these characters trying to pick up the pieces, with a looming threat that is still out there."

In the season finale, fans last saw an injured Ward being hauled off in handcuffs to captivity. Dalton said his character has an interesting arc in season two, given the death of Garrett (Paxton), a fatherly figure who recruited him to Hydra.

"Agent Garrett was the one giving him orders, who trained him, and essentially made him who he is. Now that he's out of the picture, who is Grant Ward without this person? That will be the question of season two for Grant," said Dalton.

"He's the wild card, this season in particular. You're not sure what his next step is going to be. I was always more loyal to Agent Garrett than I was to Hydra. It's not like I have Hydra tattooed across my chest."

As for his relationship with Skye (Chloe Bennet), a S.H.I.E.L.D. hacktivist with whom he has smouldering chemistry, Dalton said the events of the first season have taken a toll.

"Personally, I'm a SkyeWard shipper. But you know, they've gone through some stuff in season one. She's called me some not-nice things, I've done some not-nice things," he said.

"I'm the guy playing Ward so I have a lot of sympathy for the character. I think he was well-meaning and... he had good intentions. Not everybody feels that way. So we'll see if she can forgive me. We'll see if the fans can forgive me as well."

Despite some backlash after he was revealed to be a baddie, Dalton, 31, remains a fan favourite. The actor is notorious for his admittedly "bad" puns while live-tweeting episodes. (An example: "That window jump looked paneless.")

Dalton, who moved from New York to L.A. for the series, credits the hit show with putting him "on the map."

"I'm recognized enough that it's flattering, but not enough that it's annoying and I have to have security," he laughed.

"The people who have stopped me and said something are huge fans. It's just like a wave of enthusiasm about the show and about Marvel... You're not just making entertainment, you're making a show that people are really following and really invested in. It's great to be a part of that."

— Follow @ellekane on Twitter.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2014