‘Marvel’s Agent Carter’ Season Finale: Hayley Atwell on Taking Down Whitney, Teaming Up With Thompson

Marvel’s Agent Carter has a lot on her plate.

Tonight’s season finale sees Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) dealing with Chief Thompson (Chad Michael Murray) going rogue on their plan to take down super-scientist-turned-super-villain Whitney Frost (Wynn Everett). Meanwhile, Dr. Jason Wilkes (Reggie Austin) is taking matters into his own hands by using the unstable Zero Matter inside him.

But don’t expect tonight’s season-ending hour to tie up everything warns Hayley Atwell. “Some of the storylines are wrapped up in a very satisfying way for the audience, but there are also enough suggestions that there’s more to come. There’s an opening for new stories and cliffhangers. They’ve dealt with it in a very delicate way, to suggest that we would have more to tell if the network is up for another season.”

With so much left for Peggy to deal with, we spoke to Atwell to see what’s coming up in the season-ending hour.

Last episode, we saw Whitney growing desperate in her quest for power. How will Peggy handle going up against her?
She was blown away by this extraordinary mind of Whitney Frost. There are qualities that [Peggy] respects in Whitney, but of course, it’s all used for the forces of bad. She’s someone who’s become so power-hungry. That great quote, “Absolute power corrupts absolutely,” that’s what’s happening to Whitney. It’s not going to end well for [her]. Peggy’s kind of wants to put her out of her misery a little bit because the woman has gone completely insane. It’s no longer a desire just to get powerful anymore. It’s a desire to get powerful to the point where it would cost Whitney her own life. No one’s going to win.

Does Peggy have a sense of what Whitney’s next moves might be?
That’s what’s scary. I don’t think she does know, because Whitney’s so clever that she’s going to at least get ahead of Peggy, no matter what. Peggy finds herself being a bit late to the program of what’s going on, compared to last season where it was Dottie, and also [Dr. Ivchenko]. With Whitney, it’s just incredibly scary, because it means that there’s someone who’s so much brighter than her. God knows what could happen, and she’s now becoming more powerful with Zero Matter. I think it’s a true mark of Peggy’s heroism that [even though] it doesn’t look good for her [and] she doesn’t know how she’s going to do it, she’s not going to give up until it’s the end.

You mention Dottie. She managed to escape a few episodes back. Will she make an appearance in the finale?
It’s like that saying, “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.” Dottie is someone who Peggy always keeps an eye on, because she doesn’t know what she’s capable of and what she’s likely to do. I think Dottie will always be in her life because of that.

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Thompson kind of went rogue at the end in the last episode. How are Peggy and the team going to deal with that?
They try and find a resolution. I think it’s quite dangerous. His relationship with Peggy is one of forced tension. She’s been very patient and tolerant of him and sees through his bravado that he’s just actually a scared little boy. [But] she’s at her wit’s end by this point because now she has to turn the gun on him and also possibly save the world.

Thompson and Peggy usually aren’t on the same team. How does she feel about having to work with him?
I don’t think she trusts him. I don’t think that she thinks he is malicious and calculating, but I do think that he loses his way in his desperate attempt to be liked and to have power and validation and to take credit for things. It’s not something that can be trusted. On the one hand, she is surprised by it, but on the other hand, she’s kind of like, “Well, it’s kind of in keeping with the character that he has presented himself to me.” She knows how to deal with him.

What does Peggy think about Sousa’s feelings for her? Has she had a moment to think about it so far?
Yes and no. It’s something that eats at her. It’s a relationship that’s definitely unresolved because there are actual feelings. Obviously, it’s just been bad timing between them both.

Howard Stark is going to be back. What can you tell me about his return?
The Three Musketeers are back together, Howard and Jarvis and Peggy. They get on incredibly well. As a result, I think it’s wrapped up quite nicely between them. He’s kind of like a fairy godmother in that he turns up at important times and takes credit for it.

Will Peggy and Jarvis’s relationship really be okay after that big fight in the desert?
You’ll have to see. I think what makes that team very powerful in the desert is [that] they know each other well enough to know how to destroy each other. They know how to push each other’s buttons. That’s a position of power to be in, in a friendship. It’s a risk you take when you say something that is true but yet, will really hurt someone. The risk is, you don’t know whether or not your friendship can survive that. That’s what we’re going to find out.

The season finale of Marvel’s Agent Carter airs tonight at 9/8c on ABC.