Marvel’s Agent Carter premiered on ABC two weeks ago to good reviews and favorable ratings. In its second week the series took a bit of dip in the ratings as the series’ momentum slowed, but it remained enjoyable enough for audiences and critics alike. (Read our review.)

Agent Carter will take next Tuesday off, instead returning in two weeks time with its fourth episode, “The Blitzkrieg Button”. That episode sees the return of Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper), last seen leaving New York City via speed boat in the dead of night due to him being S.S.R.’s most-wanted. Before taking off, however, Stark asked for Peggy’s (Hayley Atwell) help in clearing his name of the treason charge by finding out what really happened to his stolen stockpile of secret weapons.

Cooper agreeing to return as Howard Stark for Agent Carter was a boon to the series and he – along with Atwell – have helped legitimize the link between the mini-series and the larger MCU. Yet, after Stark’s cameo in the pilot which put the series’ overarching plot in motion, it wasn’t clear whether or not he’d make a return appearance in time for the finale – if at all.

Then came the first preview for Agent Carter episode 4 with a snippet of an exchange between Howard and Peggy, and quite the heated exchange at that. Apparently, Agent Carter won’t be sticking with the ‘recover the stolen weapon of the week’ formula for long, and honestly, that’s probably for the better.

At this week’s TCA panel for Agent Carter – where a longer clip of the scene between Howard and Peggy was screened – head of Marvel’s TV division, Jeff Loeb spoke with Deadline about whether or not Cooper’s Stark will become a regular on the program.

“Howard returns, and as you can guess from there, there might be reasons he reached out to Agent Carter at the beginning, that he wasn’t entirely truthful about. As it is with everything we do in our shows, we don’t put anything in our shows just to put them there.

“We would love for Dominic to be a regular as much as he can. What he does on the show in two weeks will give you further indication why he’ll need to recur after that as well.”

For a mini-series that’s only eight episodes long it’d be a stretch to call any character not appearing in every one a regular, but Loeb’s comments do indicate Cooper will appear in more than just episode 4. So, perhaps recurring would be a better way to phrase Howard Stark’s role in Agent Carter.

No matter how much screen time Stark has in Agent Carter, it’s obvious he’ll be spending some of it explaining all the secrecy. In the next episode preview – which you watch here – Peggy confronts Stark, implying whatever new bit of technology she needs to find could be potentially damning to Steve Rogers’ memory. And you know if Stark did something that would reflect badly on Cap, Peggy won’t think well of it.

Much depends on exactly what this dangerous new weapon is and how it connects with Captain America, but do you expect Howard Stark to stick around for a few episodes? Or is it more likely Stark will just pop in from time to time with new information for Peggy and Jarvis? Sound off in the comments below!

Agent Carter returns to ABC on Tuesday, January 27th @9pm.