How Many Episodes of ‘Hawkeye’ Will Yelena Belova Be In? Florence Pugh’s IMDb (Kinda) Gives a Hint

Hawkeye is shaping up to be a really exciting new Disney+ series that takes a look at the archer Clint Barton and his time after Marvel‘s massive Avengers: Endgame. Even for people who aren’t fans of the former Avenger (and there are quite a few), new aspects of the show are exciting. There’s new character, Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) and the fun, high-energy trailer to pull people in. Not to mention, the Black Widow post-credits scene teased that Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova will be on a deadly mission that will surely seep into this season. 

But how many episodes will Pugh be in? There weren’t many reports that she was on set, and odds are the emphasis will be on Clint and Kate. But she’s definitely showing up at some point. [Spoilers for Black Widow ahead].

The ‘Hawkeye’ series will feature Florence Pugh, which was also hinted at in ‘Black Widow’

Back in December 2020, Variety reported that Pugh was joining the cast of Hawkeye along with Vera Farmiga, Tony Dalton, and others. At the time, only speculative reasons could be as to why Pugh would show up in Hawkeye, but they all revolved around Natasha Romanoff, of course. Black Widow hadn’t premiered yet, but Yelena Belova’s role as Natasha’s sister figure was already known to an extent. Considering how close Natasha and Clint were, there was a distinct link there.

Fast forward to now, after July’s release of the Scarlett Johansson-led film, and it’s very obvious why Pugh will show up. 

The Black Widow end-credit scene includes Yelena arriving at Natasha’s grave post-Avengers: Endgame. She has her vibrant outfit (now that she can dress herself) and her dog Fanny (a nod to Natasha’s alias) and as she’s paying her respects, Val (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) pops up. She’s recruiting her for a mission to kill Clint Barton, with the notion that he’s responsible for her sister’s death. 

There’s a bit to unpack, one being that Yelena very obviously already works for Val’s crew of superpowered individuals which now includes U.S. Agent John Walker as well. And Val is also feeding Yelena false information about Clint that’s going to get him killed.

How many episodes will Florence Pugh actually be in? Is she a series regular?

With that said, Yelena has an important role in Hawkeye, but the show is obviously named after him. And features him mentoring Kate Bishop through all six episodes. So Yelena obviously doesn’t show up right away, and if she does, she bides her time long enough to last all season long without murdering the former Avenger. So how many episodes is she in?

While we can’t pinpoint right now if Pugh is a series regular — fans will have to wait until more info or the show premieres — there are some clues you can dig up. On the show’s IMDb, it says that Pugh will appear in “eight episodes.” That’s already most likely untrue considering there are only six episodes. So that information is false. Odds are, again, that she’ll appear sporadically throughout or at the very end.

There are also reports from outside, unofficial sources, that Pugh is not in all of the episodes. The Cosmic Circus wrote a blog post claiming as such and also noted that Louis-Dreyfus hasn’t filmed anything for the series. Again, this is unofficial, so take that with a grain of salt, but it makes sense. 

Yelena’s part in this story doesn’t need to be a big one, so Pugh being in a ton of episodes doesn’t seem plausible. And Pugh could be in multiple episodes, but in just a tiny scene with only her face, voice, or small appearance.

What is Yelena Belova planning for Clint Barton? Does she want to actually kill him?

Yelena is very obviously out for the kill and might not ask a ton of questions when it comes to the man who she thinks murdered her sister. And considering she doesn’t kill him right away, she’s probably not in New York City at the start. What’s her plan?

Because let’s face it, Yelena could kill Clint faster than it would take to get through six episodes. If she’s not a better fighter than him — which she most likely is — than she at least has the element of surprise which she definitely wouldn’t waste. Not to mention the vengeance to fuel her rage. It’ll be interesting to see what’s taking her so long, and how their story plays out. Will Hawkeye get a chance to explain things? Will Yelena even believe him?

Yelena was possibly — i.e. most likely — dusted in the Blip and suffered the wrath of Thanos’ snap. This leaves a lot of leftover anguish for the former Widow as she probably has a lot of regrets going through her head about Natasha’s death. This only adds to her tortured mindset going into Hawkeye

Again, this show is gearing up to tie a few different threads of Marvel together and be a very fun watch.