Hawkeye is now officially less than a month away, meaning Clint Barton’s first solo outing in the MCU is right around the corner. The last time we saw the avenging archer, he put his dark stint as Ronin behind him and got his family back after the heroes succeeded in undoing The Snap in Avengers: Endgame. We’ve known all along that the TV series would be set after these events and wouldn’t be a prequel like Black Widow, but now Renner has further clarified the show’s timeframe.
Renner was a guest on this week’s edition of Jimmy Kimmel Live and was quizzed about all things Hawkeye. He couldn’t say too much without getting in trouble with Marvel, but what he could reveal was that the series⏤which he’ll star in opposite Hailee Steinfeld as Clint’s excitable protégé, Kate Bishop⏤is set at the same time that it will be released: in the run-up to Christmas.
“It’s current,” Renner said. “Yeah. I can tell you it takes place pretty much as it’s released. It’s kind of like a holiday sort of event, if you will.” He added that it “takes place in New York, over the span of time that it’s actually being released. Not that this is in real-time or anything, but it does take place over like a week in New York over Christmas.”
This actually makes Hawkeye something of a first for the MCU. Never before has a Marvel Studios production matched up with the time of its release. It’s not the first festive installment in the MCU⏤Iron Man 3 was⏤but it’s set to pave the way for more seasonal entertainment, including the franchise’s first Christmas special, The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, which is set to drop in 2022.
The fact that Renner told us the show takes place over a single week also teases that it will be another fast-paced series that keeps up the momentum of the movies. From the trailers, we’ve seen that Clint and Kate will be thrown together when they’re hunted down by mysterious assassins who seem to have a thing against archers. We’ll have to wait and see whether or not Clint makes it home in time to spend the holidays with his wife and kids.
The first two episodes of Hawkeye will premiere on Disney Plus on Nov. 24.