Jeremy Renner rejected ‘Hawkeye’ season two due to salary being halved: “I told them to go fly a kite”

Posted On May 2, 2025May 2, 2025

Hollywood actor Jeremy Renner has revealed that any plans for a second Hawkeye season have been put on hold after the studio offered him only half his previous salary to return.

In a new interview with High Performance, he recounted his thought process at this low-ball offer: “Well, it’s 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,” he thought aloud.

Renner was quick to relate the slashed salary to the snowmobile accident that almost took his life in 2023. “I’m like, ‘I’m sorry? Why? Did you think I’m only half the Jeremy because I got ran over? Maybe that’s why you want to pay me half of what I made on the first season,’” he said.

On January 1st 2023, Renner was run over by his snowplough as he attempted to assist his 27-year-old nephew, Alex Fries, freeing a pickup truck stuck in the snow. At one point, Renner exited his vehicle to check on Fries. However, his truck was still moving. He was hit by the Sno-Cat and got stuck under its tread, trying to stop it from hitting his nephew.

In his recent memoir, My Next Breath, he described that he was “sure” he had died. Details of his afterlife are startlingly poetic. “In death there was no time, no time at all, yet it was also all time and forever,” he said, describing an “exhilarating peace”. He also described the spiritual experience of feeling a “constantly connected, beautiful and fantastic energy.”

Renner clarified to High Performance that Marvel was not included in the decision to cut his pay. He commented, “This is not Marvel, mind you. This is like, just Disney, not even really Disney. It’s just the penny pinchers, the accountants. I told them to go fly a kite. I mean, just at the insult offer. So we didn’t see eye to eye on it.”

Nevertheless, the actor added that he’s not ruling out a return to Hawkeye in the future. “Sadly, I still love the character. I’d still love to do it, but I, I had to defend myself. I didn’t ask for any more money, mind you. Just pay me what I made the first season. So it’s all disheartening that that didn’t happen, but that’s fine,” he shrugged.

“I’m happy to let that go, because my body’s probably thanking me, time and time again, that I’m not doing it right now. But we’ll see,” Renner added.

The first season of Hawkeye debuted on Disney+ in 2021. According to Renner, whether viewers will see a second season seems to be down to the “penny pinchers”.

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