Florence Pugh Interview: She Never Expected What's Next for Yelena After Thunderbolts*

We can't stop him alone. No one can. But we can find a way together. Now you're three projects in, and not only does this movie solidify your character's leader going forward, but you are kind of an actor-leader of one of the biggest film franchises of all time. So I am wondering, how does that make you feel, and how do you hope to use that kind of influence in terms of shaping the MCU going forward? It's mental. I mean, I still think about my involvement in Black Widow and the way that Scarlet brought me into this world, and even that was wild. Like, my introduction to the MCU was so solid with how they set up my storyline in Black Widow, and that felt bonkers that I was even involved in that. So you always hope that there's going to be another one. I did not think that my second movie in the MCU was going to lead to this bunch of misfits, like, at all. It did not. I wouldn't have put money on that. So I'm still processing that, and I'm hugely grateful. What does it mean for me being here in the MCU? Is that kind of what you were asking? Yeah, and being a leader. Yeah. Being a force and shaping it, too. One of my biggest things with Yelena is I didn't want to... I wanted to create a woman that... maybe what we weren't expecting. I didn't want her to be a silhouette. I wanted her to be unique and bizarre and excited for life and have strange timing and was strangely comic. And I think all of the charms that I loved about her in Black Widow and Hawkeye, we don't really see that in her in Thunderbolt. She's still funny in her own way, but she's lost that excitement. And I loved that I was allowed to do that. I loved that I was allowed to play someone that was struggling and was suffering. And that, to me, is what... I'm grateful that I get to put my mark on where we're going with the MCU. It's like we got to make a movie that feels texturally different. It feels strange because it is. It's a movie that isn't about the usual baddies versus goodies. It's actually about something very common, and it hopefully has many different parts of it that we can all see ourselves in. And that's a very cool honor to have, to be a part of a movie like this. You play those qualities so beautifully, and it does make me want to look to the future a little because the character can keep growing and growing in new ways. So I guess, what is a new quality or maybe a skill as a leader or a person that she gains in Thunderbolts that you would be most eager to play with in a future Marvel movie? One of the things that I love about her, she always does try to take people in. She loves finding people that maybe are a bit weaker or a bit more vulnerable, and she looks after them. I always likened it probably to the nature of which her sister gave her, was just looking after her and loving her. She does it with Kate Bishop in Hawkeye. She does it with Bob in Thunderbolts. She's got a big heart, and she does want to look after animals and look after people that need help. And that's one of the qualities that I love, that even though she was suffering, she still has that. So yeah, going forward, I hope it's something that we get to see again because it's certainly a piece of her that I think is a wonderful thing to watch on a big screen. Truly a very powerful beating heart to this movie. I was surprised by how emotionally rocked I was by it. So congratulations. It's a blast, but it gave me the feels, and I appreciate that. Thank you. Cheers, love.