Wonder Man showrunner reveals Hawkeye went through massive changes and was told, "We start shooting in New York in a week and a half, and we want to rewrite the whole thing"

A second season of Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye might still be up in the air, but with new details about the previous season, it’s a wonder how we even got a first. During an appearance on The Ringer’s podcast, The Watch, Wonder Man showrunner Andrew Guest revealed that the show was completely transformed mere weeks before cameras were set to roll.

The nail-biting gig ended up on Guest’s doorstep after the co-handler of Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, and the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday called him to ask whether he’d be interested in ironing out Clint’s upcoming adventure. From there, executive producer Trinh Tran followed. "She says, 'I’m going to send you six one-hour episodes,’” recalls Guest. “‘I want to meet tomorrow to talk about it. We start shooting in New York in a week and a half, and we want to rewrite the whole thing.’”

Guest bravely accepted the task, even with the wild approach and rush to get the project completed. "I came in towards the end. I mean, they had had a writer’s room. They had rewritten [the show] after that writer’s room a couple of times. I was literally the last call they could make to anybody,” Guest explained. “They want to make sure they shoot something and that they actually make it. And then I think there is this belief that we can 'Fix it as we go.' And that was very much the case with Hawkeye.”

From there, significant alterations were made that led to the show we ended up with. "You know, Hailee Steinfeld’s character was written too young. The dynamic between her and Jeremy wasn’t there,” added Guest. “There was a lot of extra twists and turns that were sort of gumming up the works. I needed their help as much as they needed mine. And we got through that process.”