Hayley Atwell Wants More ‘Agent Carter’: ‘It’s Still a Much Loved Show’

When Hayley Atwell was cast in ABC’s new drama pilot “Conviction,” there was unease within the “Agent Carter” fanbase, since it seemed like a bad sign for the Marvel series’ future.

But it was far from certain, even though ultimately “Agent Carter” was canceled and “Conviction” was picked up to series.

“It was unclear if ‘Agent Carter’ would go ahead,” Atwell told reporters of that period of uncertainly, after the “Conviction” panel at the Television Critics’ Association’s summer press tour in Beverly Hills. “We felt by the end of the second season, that it was always one of those much-loved but little kind of places in the world of ABC. It was always very much up in the air…”

When this pilot came about, ABC said, this is not ‘We’re cancelling Agent Carter,’ this is ‘we’ve got a great new project, we really want you in the center of it, we want to see if it’s going to go.’ There was talk of, do we do an ‘Agent Carter‘ special? Does this not get picked up and ‘Agent Carter‘ does? Does the opposite happen? Do neither of them happen? All of that was a possibility.”

Atwell says there was even the possibility of doing both.

“I think they would have figured something out,” she said. “In terms of making a [Agent Carter] special or waiting until we finish this season and then doing something else with another network, perhaps … All I’m saying is that it’s still a much-loved show for the people involved with the making of it, and we know that the fans, it has a special place in their hearts. That’s something I would be very happy to go back to if the opportunity came.”

And there’s always the possibility that more “Agent Carter” could happen in the future, whether it be a special or another limited series.

“I’d love it to be [still on the table],” she said. “The great thing about Peggy is she lives a long life. I’m banking on being in my 50s and going, ‘Let’s see what Peggy’s up to.’”