SPOILER WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for "Missing Pieces," the Season 6 premiere of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.


How did Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 6 approach Thanos' Snap and the disappearance of half the world's population? Well, the show dealt with that event by not dealing with it at all. When Season 6 picked up, the world -- if not the team -- appeared to be intact. What's more, the team's only missing member was Phil Coulson, who died following the events of the Season 5 finale.

When Season 6 picked up, the team was split into two separate factions. Daisy "Quake" Johnson, Jemma Simmons, Agent Piper and Agent Davis headed to deep space in search of Fitz, who was left in cryosleep last season. Meanwhile, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s new Director Alphonso "Mack" Mackenzie, Agent Elena "Yo-Yo" Rodriguez and Agent Melinda May remained behind keep the organization running on Earth. They also revealed their efforts to rebuild the organization, starting with a new S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy founded in Coulson's name.

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Although the end of Season 5 took place simultaneously with the events of Avengers: Infinity War, Season 6 makes it clear that none of the team was affected by the Snap. Further, there is no reference to the Snap at all, suggesting the world as Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. knows it was largely unaffected by it. Even though Season 6 picks up after a one-year time jump, the Snap should still be in effect, since the Avengers weren't able to fix it until five years later in Avengers: Endgame. Season 6, then, takes place only partway into the period between Infinity War and Endgame.

During a set visit attended by CBR, the showrunners revealed that this was unavoidable. "We had to go without knowing where [Marvel Studios] was going," Head of Marvel TV Jeph Loeb explained. "When you put all those things together, either for us to say however the time lords want to work it out, all of this had to have happened before the Snap... We had to tell a story! So it's just easier for us to live where we are."

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As such, it seems Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 6 will remain largely unaffected by Infinity War or the Snap. Since Season 7 started filming in February, this may also be the case for next season, though that has not been confirmed at the time of writing.

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. airs Fridays at 8 pm ET/PT on ABC. The series stars Ming-Na Wen, Chloe Bennet, Henry Simmons, Iain De Caestecker, Natalia Cordova-Buckley, Elizabeth Henstridge and Clark Gregg.