Agents of SHIELD: Cameron's Ruby Revealed as an Assassin

SPOILER WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for "All the Comforts of Home," the latest episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

In "All the Comforts of Home," the midseason premiere of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the truth about Ruby Hale was revealed. As it turns out, Ruby -- the Quake-obsessed daughter of General Hale -- is actually a deadly costumed assassin. Her mother sent her to take down S.H.I.E.L.D. when the time-displaced team resurfaced after their adventure in the future. In the ensuing battle, Ruby attacked with a bladed disk, which hacked off Elena "Yo-Yo" Rodriguez's arms. However, the wayward agents were able to escape, leading Ruby to be chastised by her mother for her failures.

Speaking to CBR, Dove Cameron offered some insight into her character Ruby and compared her to the Greek goddess Athena. She also discussed Ruby's thoughts on good and evil, teased how she'll interact with General Hale's new team, explained why she's drawn to villainous roles and more.

CBR: In the episode, Ruby questions the morality of her mother General Hale's mission to stop S.H.I.E.L.D. How does she approach the idea of "good and evil?"

Cameron: Well, I think Ruby is very analytical. I would compare her to the Greek goddess Athena. She only cares about her objective. She doesn't really have feelings about it either way. In terms of good and evil, I think Ruby thinks that they are up for debate. I don't think she really cares. I think that she just cares about what needs to be done and what's left to do. I don't think that it's something that really plays in her mind very much, and -- if it does -- I think it's more like, "Huh. The idea of good and evil. How interesting. Kind of. Anyway, moving on." She doesn't care. She's not invested.

It looks like General Hale is putting together a team. Does Ruby play well with others?

Ruby does not play well with others, but Ruby also cares more about getting things done than anything else. So that is a good question to ask. It's going to be an interesting dichotomy to watch unfold. Ruby is definitely her own planet. She's in her own orbit and doesn't feel that she needs a team. She feels like they're backup. She doesn't feel that she needs to be padded in any way, if that makes sense. I mean, you'll see, but Ruby is a bit of a -- I wouldn't say that she is a sociopath because I think that she does somewhere have some feelings, but I do think her feelings have largely been trained out of her.

Ruby was revealed to be a costumed assassin in the midseason premiere of Agents of SHIELD.

What drew you to the role?

I think what drew me to the role was she was very dark and very intense, and it's very funny because -- as an actress -- something that you have to contend with is what we look like verses your personality and the energy you project. I think a lot of actresses and actors get very frustrated because maybe they always get the dark character because they have maybe intense features, but really they just want to play the nice guy or they always get cast as somebody serious but they're really funny and they just want to show that they can do funny. I feel like mine, is I always get cast as -- I don't always get cast as the nice girl! What am I going on about? I play a lot of villains! [laughs]

But I think I have this sort of disposition where people only see me as that, because for a long time in the beginning of my career before I really knew how to own my personality and my energy. I would say I'm very -- I'm sort of mischievous, but listen -- I'm the nicest. [laughs] I'm very nice. I love people. I love people more than anything. So when I say I like to play villains, people are always like, "That's very weird." But it's because the villains get to express the most stuff. I feel like the good guys are always a little bit bridled. They're always a bit like who we want to be on screen, verses what humans are really like, you know? Why I am an actress in the first place is because I love to express! I have so much stuff inside of me that I need to get out all the time, and acting is a great way to do that. I was very intensive, and I always have been.

So when I saw the very same breakdown about this girl and about how she was very cunning, very intelligent... You could sort of read between the lines and pretty much understand that she's not a good guy, because they would never describe a good guy like that. [laughs] I knew I had to go for it.

Airing Fridays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on ABC, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 5 stars Clark Gregg, Ming-Na Wen, Chloe Bennet, Henry Simmons, Ian De Caestecker, Natalia Cordova-Buckley and Elizabeth Henstridge.