Hive's plans for Inhuman conquest are poised come to a head in the "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." Season 3 finale. With the help of his army of Inhumans, the ancient entity hopes to connect with the rest of his kind and transform all others into primitives, a subservient race of mutated humans -- but not if S.H.I.E.L.D. had any say in the matter. With Daisy now back on their side, no longer under Hive's control, Director Coulson's team is armed with precious knowledge of Hive's inner workings. Now, it's a race against time and space to put an end to his nefarious plan.

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Ahead of tonight's "explosive" finale, Brett Dalton spoke with CBR News about Season 3's twists and turns, teasing Hive's intentions for the human race, regardless of whether or not Daisy is at his side. He also went in depth about differences between playing Hive and Grant Ward, and exactly why both characters are so fun to play.

CBR News: What was your first reaction when you read the season finale script?

Brett Dalton: What we've done with this season finale is, we have taken the bar, and we have raised it. We have really, truly outdone ourselves with this one. On a show that already delivers with our season finales, we not only hit the home run, I think we definitely hit it out of the park. That's a lot of metaphors saying the same thing, but I do genuinely mean that. We've just outdone ourselves.

Can you tease the episode by summing it up in three words?

Oh, man! Explosive, gripping and action-packed.

At the end of the last episode, Lash ended Hive's influence on Daisy. How does this impact Hive going into the season finale?

It certainly was not something that is going according to plan. This is something that, obviously, Hive did not plan for. But at the same time, he is an incredibly driven Inhuman. He has a mission to do. He has a job to do. He is still on a mission. He is going to stop at nothing. This is a bump in the road, but he is still driven to succeed. There's the threat of Daisy, who now knows all of my plans; now, she's up with S.H.I.E.L.D., and hopefully that doesn't come back to bite me in the behind. She's an incredibly focused, formidable opposing force. She is going to stop at nothing to make sure that [Hive's] plan doesn't happen.

You played Grant Ward for two and a half years, but Hive is an entirely different beast. Have you enjoyed playing one more than the other?

I've enjoyed them equally, and for separate reasons. Because I have played Ward for longer, it was easier for me to jump into that. He operates from a completely different place. He always feels like he's the victim; he is actually incredibly emotional and vengeful, is always trying to right his wrongs and never sits still. Hive has a calmer demeanor, a sense of efficiency and economy with his movements and speech, and he's about the long game. This is somebody who's been around for centuries.

I think what I've enjoyed about Ward is that he is just a beast. When he sets his mind to something, he gets it done. Often, it's really enjoyable -- at least it is reading it, and then performing it. It's really enjoyable when you see him in action for a couple scenes, and you have no idea why he's doing it. Suddenly, he's on a bus! Suddenly, he's got this bag full of something! You have no idea why, but you'll find out at the end of the episode and realize, oh, he was trying to do all this stuff. You see the "how" before the "what," and it's really exciting, because -- when that happens -- you're like, "Oh, shoot, something's about to go down." To me, Ward on a mission is just awesome and so fun to play.

Hive is fun for a different reason. He's just so calculated; he sees not only every move on the chessboard, he sees every move on every board. It's incredibly cool to come at it from almost the exact opposite [of Ward], a very measured approach. He only uses the amount of words he needs to use. The whole thing is different, and I think it's just fun to play the one person who's calm in the room, whereas Ward is often the hothead. Hive is the smartest person in the room; he's the calmest person in the room at all times. It's instinct to be in those crazy high-pitched situations, where you actually have all of the answers. You have to pretend like you do, and -- in real life -- it sort of makes you feel like you do.

Starring Clark Gregg, Chloe Bennet and Ming-Na Wen, "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." airs Tuesdays at 9 pm EST on ABC.