Hawkeye Director Teases Yelena Belova's Role In Disney+ Series
Hawkeye will bring Clint Barton and Yelena Belova face-to-face, and director Rhys Thomas is careful not to reveal too much about their first meeting.
Hawkeye director Rhys Thomas teases Yelena Belova's role in the upcoming Disney+ series, though he's careful not to give too much away. Marvel is currently gearing up for the release of its fourth live-action Disney+ series Hawkeye, which arrives with a two-episode premiere in just over one week. The show is the first solo project to center on Jeremy Renner's Clint Barton, and it promises to be the most comic-accurate depiction of the archer yet. Hawkeye picks up in the aftermath of Avengers: Endgame, with Clint trying to settle back in with his family amid the holidays.
However, his past won't leave him alone, and Hawkeye will find Clint confronting a few parts of his Endgame arc. In addition to facing his time as the vigilante Ronin, Clint will come face-to-face with Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), the younger sister of Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson). Natasha died in Endgame, and as the Black Widow post-credits scene revealed, Yelena is looking for someone to blame. In this case, that would be Clint, who could've died in Nat's place.
Pugh is confirmed to have a role on Hawkeye, but the creative team is being very careful about what they say about it. Speaking to GamesRadar+, Rhys Thomas was asked about Yelena's arc in the series. Specifically, he was asked if Hawkeye will find Clint and Yelena battling it out. In response, Thomas had this to say:
"I can't speak to that. But yes, we know their past, and obviously what happened in Endgame. We know in these first two episodes that Clint's dealing with the fallout of that. But in terms of how they meet, I can't – I'll just pretend I don't know. Imagine it's a happy meeting, where they talk over coffee and work things out."
Though Thomas didn't give any specifics, one can assume Clint and Yelena's first meeting in Hawkeye will be far from a happy chat over coffee. Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) served Clint up as a target, and considering how much Natasha's death devastated Yelena, it's safe to say she won't be looking to hug it out with Clint. The promotional materials for Hawkeye have so far been careful not to reveal any glimpse of Yelena, so her role truly is a big mystery. Still, if Clint spends the first episodes of Hawkeye grappling with what happened in Endgame, perhaps it won't be long before she turns up.
Hawkeye is also exciting because it introduces Clint's likely replacement, Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld). Kate is being positioned as a secondary lead; the series mainly focuses on the adventure she gets Clint tangled in. She could actually prove to be quite helpful when Yelena comes calling, acting as another line of defense for the archer. It looks like Hawkeye will have a good amount of differing personalities at play in its 6 episodes, and it'll be exciting to see how they all mesh together.
Hawkeye premieres Wednesday, November 24 on Disney+.
Source: GamesRadar+