Actor Henry Simmons Dishes On Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Mack

At this point you've been living with Mack for six seasons. What has he taught you as a person?

Well, I'll tell you what, the first thing that comes to mind is, when Mack became director, he would weigh his decisions so heavily. The cause and effect, what the consequences were going to be, the right thing, the wrong thing.

But then, eventually, you learn that you just have to make the decision. You have to make the decision and live with it. And I think that has taught me something as well. Just make the decision. Do what you think is best. You can't always sit there and try to figure out whether it's right or wrong, if it is good or bad. You know what? You just have to live life and make the decision and move on.

When did they let you know that you were going to be taking over as the new head of S.H.I.E.L.D.?

When I read the final episode of season five. That's when I found out, and I was just amazed.

They said initially that Daisy was going to be the director, and I was like, "Yeah," y'know? But then they did that change at the end. "I'm sorry, what?" I mean, I was really shocked. No one talked to me about it. No one said anything to me about it.

I was so flattered because I know there's a difference between being the director and being an agent. The director gives the orders. There's an authority that you have to have, a leadership quality, but also from an actor's point of view, as the director you're driving the scene. You're no longer just turning up. The director has to drive the scene. So it was so flattering to me because the writers and the producers saw qualities in me as an actor and as a human being that could fill those shoes. And that meant a lot to me. I'm not going to lie. It meant a lot to me.

Mack's actually a character that came from the comics. Did you look at the source material at all when you were preparing to play the role?

Yeah. I mean, look, when I first came on, I took a gamble. I was like, "I can look him up." And I turn to my wife and I said, "I looked him up," and I was like, "Huh, well what the hell they doing?"

In the comic book, Mack is a white guy with white hair. I was like, what are they doing? What is going on? So, I was completely confused. I didn't know what elements of that character were going to be in my character. I mean, he looked different. I was confused. I just had to trust whatever they were writing.