Agents of SHIELD's Dove Cameron Introduces Ruby

Tonight, Dove Cameron will make her grand entrance in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s midseason premiere. The Disney Channel Original star joined the Marvel series back in November, though details surrounding her role were scarce at the time. Then, in January, ABC revealed two more clues about Cameron's "cunning" character Ruby: her obsession with Quake and her relationship to General Hale, the woman who captured and interrogated Fitz in the flashback episode "Rewind." As it were, Ruby is General Hale's daughter, which may mean Ruby will get involved with her mother's search for S.H.I.E.L.D. in some capacity.

Speaking to CBR, Cameron offered a few new clues about her mysterious character. She teased Ruby's "complex" relationship with her mother, her "middle-of-the-road" feelings about S.H.I.E.L.D. at large and why it may be bad news for Daisy to be the object of Ruby's obsession. She also offered some insight about why the role was something she "really, really, really wanted to do," pointed out her favorite scene from the episode and more.

CBR: What initially drew you to the role?

Cameron: So when I saw the very same breakdown about this girl and about how she was very cunning, very intelligent... I knew I had to go for it. I had some weird feeling about this audition and knew I had to go for it. I worked really hard -- I came in a couple times for it and we were doing the deal while I was in Florida and all this stuff because I just knew this character was something I really, really, really wanted to do.

The creators and the producers -- Maurissa [Tancharoen] and Jed [Whedon] and everybody at Marvel and Jeph Loeb -- they really gave me basically what I've been wanting for my whole career, which is a very interesting, complex, dark girl. You'll see as the season continues to unfold what I mean by that, but I think all of us -- the creators, the writers, all of us -- they write the episodes as we go, so it's not like they have it all done by the time we start a new season, so -- by the time I would finish an episode -- it would be sort like, "Oh, okay, maybe that's where Ruby is going to go!" And then the next time, it'd be like, "Okay, she definitely going this direction." And then I would do a scene, and they'd be like, "Oh, okay, so then let's do this with it." That's the big thing with every character on the show, really.

Ruby unfolded to be something I think that all of us really wanted to see. They just let me do what I wanted with this character! It was so incredible. I felt so blessed. I felt so welcome. I love the creators, the producers and everyone on the show. This show just really was everything I wanted it to be.

We don't know much about Ruby outside of the fact that she is the daughter of General Hale. What's that relationship like?

Yeah, it's a complex relationship. I won't tell you too much, because it is a very pivotal relationship in the show. I can tell you that it is like an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object. It's like that famous line. It's just like what is going to happen is a recipe for disaster. They're two very strong women, and there's also a lot of love there. It's like a real, complicated mother-daughter relationship. It's very sad. It's very gratifying. It's very scary. It's very fast. It's very physical. You're just going to have to see what happens as the season unfolds.

Ruby is obsessed with Quake. What draws Ruby to her?

I think that Ruby feels that Quake is the world's biggest hero. I think that she really sees her as that. I think that she really kind of honors the fact that Quake is as impressive as she is. I don't think that that really results in a way that Daisy wants. I think that it's not great adoration. I don't think it's great fandom. It's definitely a bit of a worshiping, but that can go two ways very easily. So what I keep saying and all I really can say is Ruby is exactly not the person that you would want to be idolized [by] and is fixating on you. That's all I can say for now.

So she worships Quake, but how does she feel about the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D.?

I don't think Ruby really has much care for S.H.I.E.L.D... I think that a lot of Ruby's feelings about S.H.I.E.L.D. are pretty middle-of-the-road. As you'll see, her feelings about S.H.I.E.L.D. don't actually really have to do with S.H.I.E.L.D. You'll see what I mean by that. She's a smart girl. She's going to get what she wants and she's definitely got some plans. She's not as she seems, I guess I would say.

Can you tease your favorite moment or scene from the episode?

My favorite scene is definitely the final scene. It's definitely the closing scene. You'll see why. [laughs]

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.