Hailee Steinfeld was first reported to be in talks with Marvel Studios to play the role of Kate Bishop in Hawkeye by Variety in September 2019, but with no further updates or confirmations. Some believed that these talks fell through due to Steinfeld's previous commitment to Apple's Dickinson series or even that she had a non-competition clause in her contract with Apple, which would prevent her from starring in the show.
Over a year and several more cryptic posts on social media later, Hailee Steinfeld was finally confirmed to be Kate Bishop on Hawkeye when Steinfeld was captured on video as she was shooting a scene alongside Jeremy Renner. In a recent interview, it seems like even Steinfeld was uncertain about her role in the series for the longest time.
NEWS
In an interview with Fandom , Hailee Steinfeld talked about finally being able to admit publicly that she would be playing Kate Bishop in Marvel Studios' Hawkeye series.
“It's amazing to finally be able to confirm. It's such an honor to be playing this role. I'm so, so excited about it! It's so wonderful to be back at work, I feel so grateful.”
However, Steinfeld seems to imply that her role as Bishop wasn't always a done deal, saying that “It's been a very crazy year of not knowing if that was gonna happen for a while, so, happy to be back at work and playing this character.” She assures fans that Hawkeye is “...gonna be really fun” and that “I'm excited for people to see it. I'm excited to see it.”
WHAT THIS MEANS
It's curious whether the delay in production for Hawkeye actually helped Marvel Studios secure Hailee Steinfeld in the role or if that non-competition clause in her contract with Apple was real and that they had allowed her to work on Disney's competing streaming service. Another possibility is that Steinfeld was not strictly talking about her role as Kate Bishop, but filming for the show in general, as multiple productions were delayed, with Hawkeye only beginning to film in early December .
Regardless, Hailee Steinfeld's casting as Kate Bishop was an enormous triumph from Marvel Studios, not only starring alongside Jeremy Renner in Hawkeye but likely being the biggest star in the inevitable Young Avengers series for Disney's streaming service. At this point, nearly every member of the team has either been rumored or confirmed, so having Steinfeld should be very beneficial for that IP and Marvel Studios.
