Will ‘Agents of SHIELD’ go overboard on Ghost Rider’s CGI?

“Agents of SHIELD” is about to get a new visitor, and if Yahoo‘s first look at this fiery character is any indication, he’s going to be a nightmare-inducing, CGI behemoth.

Gabriel Luna is set to make his debut as Ghost Rider in Season 4 of “Agents of SHIELD,” and he’s going to have two very distinctive looks. The first is obviously his human form, taking on Luna’s handsome (and not flammable) face. The second, however, is the one that has us worried.

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You can’t very well have Ghost Rider without his “skull on fire” alter ego, but we’re hoping that they only pull out this stop on special occasions. While the effects on TV have come leaps and bounds in recent years, they’re still not what we’d call realistic by any measure, and sometimes they’re just plain cringeworthy.

“Agents of SHIELD” has more occasions to use CGI than almost any other show, but they’ve managed not to go overboard thus far, which we’re incredibly grateful for.

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HIVE’s terrifying tentacle face last season was as close as they came to taking their effects a little too far, but unfortunately it ended up looking more cartoonish than scary. We can only hope that they don’t make a similar mistake with Ghost Rider.

Instead, “Agents of SHIELD” might want to use its effects budget on the smaller things, to really enhance the viewing experience. Ghost Rider will apparently be bringing a bit of a supernatural element to the show in Season 4, which provides a lot of opportunities to dabble in various mystical elements that will certainly need attention from the effects department.

Rather than breaking the bank trying to make Ghost Rider’s transformation believable, they might want to keep that stunning CGI to a minimum and hone in on the superpowers and supernatural elements that are easier to achieve.

“Agents of SHIELD” premieres Sept. 23 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.

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