As hoped for by those who expect TV shows to do things for them, because damn it, they’ve earned it, Cobie Smulders is set to reprise her Avengers role in ABC’s Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Father’s Brother’s Nephew’s Cousin’s Former Roommate. The reveal was made at the Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. Comic-Con panel happening right now that you aren’t at because you forgot to get in line last week, with the always multitasking Joss Whedon simultaneously releasing a statement to Entertainment Weekly confirming it. “I wanted very much to have Cobie in the pilot because as much as anyone else, she IS S.H.I.E.L.D.,” Whedon said, acknowledging that Smulders is also a powerful force hiding behind an unwieldy name. “She’s cool and commanding, and has the dry humor that plays so well with Clark [Gregg]. Also, if she’s in it I get to hang out with Cobie.”
Of course, how often he’ll get to hang out with Cobie remains an open question, as Smulders is still busy with her other TV show, How I Met Your Mother, on a rival network. But for now, Smulders’ Agent Hill is definitely expected to appear in the pilot and “occasionally” thereafter, with the possibility that she’ll go full time if S.H.I.E.L.D. lands a second season, and the guy in How I Met Your Mother doesn’t remember at the last minute that, oh wait, that wasn’t your mother, that was some other chick, let me start over.