Hawkeye star Hailee Steinfeld on that major villain reveal and working with Florence Pugh

Warning: This article contains spoilers for the fifth episode of Hawkeye.

A lot happened in the most recent episode of Hawkeye, so EW asked series star Hailee Steinfeld (who plays the young archer Kate Bishop) about it all.

The role of Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) on the show has been teased ever since the post-credits scene in Black Widow, but she finally made her entrance in last week's episode. On Wednesday's installment, Yelena came back for a long sit-down with Kate. For a show that has mostly consisted of either fun action scenes or two-handed banter between Kate and Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner), this mac-and-cheese meal was a refreshing change of pace.

"The minute I knew that she was gonna be a part of the show, I was very excited. I am a huge fan of Florence and her work," Steinfeld says. "At that point, it had been me and Jeremy the whole time, so I was ready for some Florence Pugh. That scene in particular was so fun. There's a lot of layers. It's always exciting to dig into a scene like that. When you first read it, you laugh, there are points that you love and connect to. But when you really get into it you understand that there's a deeper meaning to this very fun scene that has a lot of great banter between these two really awesome characters."

Steinfeld continues, "I just remember being so impressed by Florence. She had a great understanding of Yelena and where Yelena falls in this moment. She's been given a task, and she has made it very clear she will stop at nothing to achieve this task. There's Kate simply trying to understand where she's coming from, because she's not willing to accept Yelena's thoughts on Clint. These are two people who are just trying to protect the thing that they love. In that, they sort of find this connection to each other."

But the most remarkable moment in the episode came in the final moments, when it was finally revealed that the big bad behind all of the show's evil machinations was none other than Kingpin (Vincent D'Onofrio). Having originally appeared on Netflix's Daredevil series, Wilson Fisk has now officially survived the transition to Disney+. EW's Chancellor Agard has noted in his Hawkeye recaps a strong resemblance to the Marvel-Netflix shows. Now that connection is even clearer.

Steinfeld is no stranger to the Kingpin, having voiced Gwen Stacy in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse where the sizable criminal mastermind was also the primary villain. But that version, of course, was animated; D'Onofrio is the real deal.

"It's a very different experience standing underneath Vincent and hearing him. To be in his presence is really something," Steinfeld says. "I've been a fan of his for a very long time. It's always amazing to be a part of something with people that you really admire. I'm excited to see people watch it unfold."

Steinfeld continues, "this is somebody that she doesn't know much about, but she's been warned. She knows everything she needs to know when she hears Clint say 'this is the guy I've been worried about the whole time.' That right there is enough for her to need to come to her senses and figure out how to handle the situation. If it didn't feel real before, it's real now. After all the partner talk and jokes that have been thrown around, now she has the opportunity to step up to the plate."

It's not just a photo of Kingpin that Clint and Kate find at the end of the episode, though. It's a photo of Kingpin with Kate's mom, Eleanor Bishop (Vera Farmiga). Eleanor and Kate obviously don't have the most comfortable relationship with each other, but this takes it to a whole other level.

The show has flipped the roles of Kate's parents a bit. In the pages of Marvel comics, it was Kate's mom who died when she was young, leaving her to reckon with a rocky relationship with her dad. In the Hawkeye show it's the reverse, but what stays consistent is that Kate's surviving parent is connected to the Kingpin.

"That is quite the bomb that gets dropped," Steinfeld says. "It's not something that Kate could have ever seen coming. I think that in that moment, we fear for her. I remember reading it and feeling like there is this sense of fear, because we now have no idea what her mother is capable of. But I did feel this sort of confidence in Kate. Although it's only been a couple days, I believe in that moment Kate is far more capable of protecting herself than she might have been just a few days prior. Not to mention she has an Avenger by her side to help her navigate through this!"

The Hawkeye finale hits Disney+ next Wednesday.

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