Jeremy Renner Says Disney Axed Hawkeye Season 2 — And the Plan Could Launch a Moon Knight Sequel

Marvel keeps adding more superheroes to the pile, but the most interesting updates right now are about the ones already on the board. Case in point: Jeremy Renner just outlined what a second season of Hawkeye would have looked like... and why it probably is not happening. That instantly raises the question: if Clint Barton is benched, could that holiday slot eventually go to Moon Knight instead?

Renner says Hawkeye S2 stalled after a lowball offer

Back in May, Renner said on the High Performance podcast that Marvel invited him back for Hawkeye Season 2 but slashed the paycheck compared to Season 1. He later doubled down in Variety, calling it an insult offer. His version of the math was pretty straightforward:

"They asked me to do Season 2, and they offered me half the money. I am like, 'Well, it is going to take me twice the amount of work for half the amount of money, and eight months of my time, essentially, to do it for half the amount.'"

So, where would the show have gone if the deal made sense? In a fresh Screen Rant interview, Renner said the plan kept Hawkeye firmly in its Christmas lane. He described a New York holiday setting as the backbone of Season 2, carrying over that cozy, festive energy from the first run. In his words, NYC at Christmas is gorgeous... and then pretty bleak once the lights come down. Fair.

The rumor mill: Die Hard vibes and a very specific antagonist

On the scuttlebutt front, scooper Daniel Richtman (as relayed by The Direct) claimed Hawkeye Season 2 would have leaned even harder into the holiday action template, channeling a Die Hard flavor. He also says Marvel approached a big-name actor to play Clint Barton’s brother, Barney Barton — better known to comic readers as Trickshot — as an antagonist. The kicker: Richtman heard the character was being positioned to pop across multiple projects.

So... is Hawkeye Season 2 dead?

There is no shoot date, no release date, and no official greenlight on the books. After Renner publicly balked at the terms, the series is reportedly scrapped for now. Never say never in this franchise, but do not hold your breath.

Does that open the door for Moon Knight?

Moon Knight landed in 2022, connected with fans, and then... radio silence. With Marvel busy propping up its newer faces — especially the younger heroes — the vigilante with the Egyptian god problem has been oddly absent. If Hawkeye cedes the holiday window, some chatter points to Oscar Isaac’s alter-egos possibly returning around a similar timeframe in 2027. That speculative timing also gets tied, loosely, to when people expect Avengers: Secret Wars to land. None of that is official — it is just where the tea leaves are currently pointing.

What Marvel has cooking (official and otherwise)

Between what has been announced and what keeps popping up in trade whispers, the calendar looks jammed through 2026. Here is the current mix of dated projects and heavily rumored ones making the rounds:

• Wonder Man — January 27, 2026
• Spider-Man: Brand New Day — July 31, 2026
• Avengers: Doomsday — December 18, 2026
• The Punisher Special — 2026
• Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 — 2026
• Vision Quest — 2026

Speaking of rumor-heavy: the word around Avengers: Doomsday is a wild crossover roster that reportedly includes Robert Downey Jr., Anthony Mackie, Tenoch Huerta, Simu Liu, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach, plus a wave of returning Fox-era X-Men faces like Kelsey Grammer, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, and Alan Cumming. There is even talk the big bad is Doctor Doom. Again, big grains of salt until Marvel says it out loud.

Bottom line: Renner laid out what could have been a very fun, very Christmassy Hawkeye sequel, but the money made it a non-starter. If that leaves a holiday-sized hole in the schedule, Moon Knight feels like a smart plug — and the 2027 window is the one people keep whispering about. Until the dust settles, Hawkeye Season 1 is streaming on Disney+, and it still plays great in December.