Hawkeye Episode 4 Directors Overjoyed To Work With Surprise MCU Actor

In a recent interview with Screen Rant, the directors of Hawkeye spoke about getting to work with Florence Pugh on this project. The first two episodes of Hawkeye premiered on November 24, with the remaining episodes airing every Wednesday on Disney+. The show introduced Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld), focusing on both her and Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) dealing with the repercussions of being associated with the Ronin.

Hawkeye is a part of the MCU and therefore linked to the other stories told by Marvel Studios. The show is most notably connected to Avengers: Endgame, which brought the Ronin storyline into existence. Hawkeye is also directly related to Black Widow, which establishes the character of Yelena (Florence Pugh), in which she’s Natasha Romanoff’s pseudo sister until the pair are separated in the Black Widow program. The movie highlights their relationship throughout, as the pair deal with issues from their past.

During an interview with Screen Rant, Directors Bert and Bertie spoke about the most recent episode of Hawkeye. Episode 4 “Partners, Am I Right?” brought back Yelena Belova into the MCU, after her last appearance in Black Widow. The directors speak about what it was like getting to work with Florence Pugh and what she brings to both the character and the work environment.

Bertie: Gosh, I think when we first discovered that she was going to be in this show. We both did that little leap of joy that you’re doing. We’re massive fans of Florence’s and during pre production, we got to watch Black Widow before it came out. So we’d seen what she’d done with the character, which was so fresh in that relationship between her and Natasha. So fresh for the Marvel Universe, but a strong badass female and funny and I think we just knew that this was going to be such an adventure working with her and that character. So we were very overjoyed.

Bert: Florence as a person and as the character brings this lovely weirdness to it. We were always ones for characters that play slightly left of center and every time that there was a safe option and there was a slightly more eccentric option, she’d come out in the platforms with the flares, you know? She was so into Yelena’s weirdness, which all comes from her upbringing and not being in the states and what would that mean? We love that she lent into the weirdness that Yelena is and we adored that. Everyday on set, she’d walk on and just go, “Hello darlin!” and everyone would just kind of melt.

In Black Widow’s post-credit scene, Yelena is at her sister’s grave when Valentina Allegra Defontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) shows up and gives her the next target: Clint Barton. Valentina tells Yelena that he is the man who killed her sister, setting up her arrival in Hawkeye. She reappears at the end of Hawkeye episode 4, Clint and Kate are attacked by a Black Widow and Maya Lopez. During the altercation, Clint manages to grab the balaclava off the Black Widow’s face, revealing Yelena, however, Clint doesn’t have any idea who she is as of yet.

Just prior to the reveal, Kate was thrown over the edge of the building during the fight, and when Clint goes to save her, the image is reminiscent of Black Widow’s death scene in Avengers: Endgame. This showcased the heavy weight that her death still holds over Clint, as well as making the reveal a moment later all the more impactful for audiences. After her mask is removed, Yelena dives off the top of the building, although, it is unlikely that this is the last time she will be seen in the series. There are two remaining episodes of Hawkeye, in which Yelena will still be attempting to take Clint’s life, while he doesn’t know the true reason for her attacks. Viewers will have to wait to find out if/when this information is revealed to him.

Hawkeye releases new episodes Wednesdays on Disney+.

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