At long last, Marvel Cinematic Universe fans got what they’d been begging to see for the last two weeks when Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova finally made her return to the fold in Hawkeye. Sure, it’s been less than five months since she debuted in Black Widow, but the actress made a huge impression in Scarlett Johansson’s solo prequel.
Warning: Spoilers to follow.
It was only a fleeting cameo, though, with the assassin showing up to hand Clint Barton his ass on a silver platter before deciding to make a swift exit when Kate Bishop and Maya Lopez ended up over-complicating things. The stage is set for a massive two-part conclusion to Hawkeye, with Pugh poised to have a huge say in how things shake out.
Speaking to ScreenRant, directors Bert and Bertie couldn’t be any kinder about the instant fan favorite, with the latter admitting that it was an absolute joy to have her around.
“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 echoed those sentiments and then some, with the British actress’ natural charm and grounded personality apparently capable of reducing the crew to starry-eyed love at first sight.
“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.”
It’s ironic that Pugh’s wholesome and often hilarious social media persona is the complete opposite of no-nonsense badass Yelena, but we’re curious to see if she resolves her issues with Clint Barton before the end of Hawkeye‘s sixth and final episode in this currently-scheduled run, or if the storyline is set to continue for even longer.
