Jeremy Renner Wanted Hawkeye TV Series To Be Darker

Last time we saw him in Avengers: Endgame, Clint Barton went to a pretty dark place. After losing his family to The Snap, Clint took on the mantle of Ronin and went on an assassination spree. He eventually repented his bloodthirsty ways, though, when he rejoined his teammates and undid The Snap, restoring his loved ones to life in the process. But the trailers for the incoming Hawkeye TV series have hinted that his time as Ronin will not be swept under the rug.

According to the directors behind the show, Rhys Thomas and filmmaking duo Bert & Bertie, this was something star Jeremy Renner was very keen to explore. While speaking to Total Film Magazine (via Games Radar), the trio revealed that they collaborated with the leading man in deciding on the tone of the series. Bertie said he wanted it to feel “real and authentic” and to have a certain levity to it, something Renner supported:

“I think that Jeremy was on board from the get-go with the tone of the show being not super serious the whole time; the slight absurdity of it and that buddy-cop dynamic.”

This lighter-hearted tone has been stressed in the marketing, which has pitched Hawkeye as a Christmas-set action-packed ride, as well as a buddy-cop type story about Clint and his excitable protégé Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld). Having said that, there will still be some darkness to it. Bert added that Renner pushed to include some more of the hero’s Ronin side, some of which, he teases, made it in:

“He wanted the darkness. He wanted to go there. And there are moments that the Ronin Clint resurfaces. It’s very important to have those depths that you can explore, so that he can come out of it.”

The Ronin costume will definitely resurface at least, as Kate has been seen wearing her own version of it in the trailers. You might think this wasn’t Clint’s finest hour, but Kate – being his self-declared number one fan – clearly still idolizes him despite his rogue activities during The Blip. Or maybe she just thinks the costume is cool.

Hawkeye premieres with its first two episodes (out of six) on Disney Plus this November 24.