Jaimie Alexander Talks Agents of SHIELD and the State of Asgard

Asgard's Lady Sif returns to Marvel's Agents of SHIELD this Tuesday for the episode "Who You Really Are," but this time there's a catch. As with her last appearance, she's down on Earth tracking an enemy, but by the time Coulson and his agents find her, her memory's been wiped. That's right. The mighty warrior Sif's got amnesia.

I spoke to actress Jaimie Alexander about her return to SHIELD, playing Sif as an amnesiac, the state of the Asgardian throne, and more.

IGN: What was it like coming back to SHIELD as Sif, but then having her not know anyone?

Jaime Alexander: It was very comical actually. Definitely comical in the beginning. You know, I was just so happy to come back. I always enjoy playing Sif but I also love working with everyone over at Agents of SHIELD, cast and crew. Just everyone. They're just great people. And they have such a good time doing what they're doing. It's not work for them, which is so wonderful. It's play. They love to play. They play pranks on each other and do all sorts of funny things. It was just a great experience the first time that, you know, when they called and asked me to do it again, I said "Yeah, let's just do it. Let's have fun with it." Especially this time around, because Sif has amnesia. So there are some very funny moments. But there are also some sadder moments later on when she doesn't remember some things that Coulson was hoping she'd remember.

IGN: I'm assuming Sif get things sorted out in her head at some point, right? Do we get to learn anything about the state of Asgard? Thor 3's not coming until 2017, and we left things really hanging with Loki.

Alexander: She does find out yes. With the help of the SHIELD team, she is able to regain some knowledge that she she had lost previously. And there are big questions that are answered on the show that the fans will be quite happy about. But the bigger questions are still lurking. With regards to the end of Thor 2 and how things left off in Asgard. And what's going on there. Is Loki really Odin or is Odin now Loki, or was it all an illusion? None of that's addressed in this episode. And to be quite frank I don't know the answer to that anyway. They don't tell us. But you do get a lot of SHIELD-related answers in this episode.

IGN: Since Thor 3: Ragnarok is still years off, it must be great to be able to still play Sif on TV.

Alexander: It's so much fun because I really enjoy playing Sif. There are so many levels to her. She's so layered. And I think we've only seen a small fraction of what she's able to bring to the story. We only know a little about who she really is and what she's capable of. And so any chance to explore her further, I jump at it. It's such a good time.

IGN: One thing we do know about Sif is that she can fight. What kind of battles can we expect in this episode?

Alexander: Well, from an action standpoint, this one is definitely less-action packed for Sif than you would normally see. But that was actually helpful in a way because I only had a week to prepare. The fights that I do have in the episode I learned in one day and we sort of just improv'd and did it. It worked out well, but the story's more about her trying to figure out who she really is and what's going on with this mysterious foe that she's had this battle with who gave her amnesia. She's not even in her armor this time around because she was trying to fit in on Earth, so that makes it even harder for her to connect with who she is.

IGN: From the previews, it looks like Sif's going after Skye at some point. Is that all due to her amnesia? What can you tell us there?

Alexander: It's hard to talk about that because I don't want to give stuff away, but there are things going on internally at SHIELD that Sif is not aware of. So there's just this chaotic mess and mixup where everyone's trying to help each other out. And they're all these strange pieces of this puzzle, and so when they all get together things start to make more sense. And they start to figure things out and finally work together as a team. And that's always great to see. Those crossovers between the films and the TV show. So it was all really cool to be a part of again.

Alexander: And also to come into Season 2 and see all they've accomplished in both Season 1 and Season 2 thus far, as well as where they're heading, is really exciting for me as a fan. Because I could see things and say "Oh, the fans are going to really freak out about this." And I know a little bit more than everyone else out there because I was on the set during some of the future episodes. Because, you know, sometimes they'll shoot a scene or two from a different episode coming up during the current episode. So even though I'm not appearing in another episode, I became aware of certain things coming up and I was like "That's pretty damn cool." [laughs]

The Agents of SHIELD episode "Who You Really Are" featuring Lady Sif airs Tuesday, March 10th on ABC. Find out more over at ABC.com

Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/Showrenity.