Hawkeye, which premiered November 24 on Disney+, picks up with the continuing story of the MCU two years after the universe-changing circumstances of Avengers: Endgame. Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) is hoping to spend a quiet and uneventful Christmas with his family, but those plans get derailed quickly when his path crosses with that of Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld), a skilled archer who has her own personal history with Hawkeye. The series also promises to follow up on the aftermath of the MCU film Black Widow, which saw Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) being mistakenly led to believe that Clint was responsible for Natasha Romanoff's (Scarlett Johansson) death on Vormir. The show also stars Vera Farmiga, Fra Fee, Tony Dalton, Zahn McClarnon, Brian d'Arcy James, and Alaqua Cox, as well as Jolt the Golden Retriever as Lucky the Pizza Dog.

This week, Collider had the chance to chat with Fee, who plays Tracksuit Mafia mercenary Kazimierz "Kazi" Kazimierczak, after the premiere of Episode 4, "Partners, Am I Right?". Over the course of the interview, which you can both watch above and read below, Fee discussed what it was like to develop the relationship between his character and Maya Lopez, how learning sign language allowed him to spend more time with co-star Alaqua Cox, and what Kazi's driving force has been leading up to this point for him in the Disney+ Marvel series. He also spoke about the appeal for him in taking on this Hawkeye role and the manner in which Kazi's biggest inner conflict might play out over the rest of the reason.

Collider: We get the sense of Kazi's relationship with Maya right away, and how he really kind of feels almost like her grounding energy or someone who can level her out, maybe when she's kind of wants to charge ahead and take action. So I'm curious, were there ever any conversations between you and Alaqua [Cox] about how to play that dynamic on screen?

FRA FEE: Yeah, for sure. We were very blessed to have had a lot of time to rehearse our scenes. I was immeasurably grateful for it because I had more time to learn the sign language. Which I was nervous about, initially, because I wanted to be proficient enough to make Kazi believable, fluent [in] sign language, communicator and interpreter. But what it meant that we got another gift was that we got to spend so much time together. You don't usually get to rehearse a lot on film or TV. So this was a real blessing. And it meant that we were able to discuss the characters, their motivations, and it is an utterly intriguing relationship. They've been in each other's lives for a long time. Kazi is there in the karate class, in karate, [the] same time as little Maya.

So they have a relationship, a familial relationship, and care very deeply about one another. Kazi, I suspect, would have imagined himself in a higher position in the organization than Maya. That has been his driving force all of his life. I'm not sure if it's been Maya's driving force all her life. But perhaps after the death of her father, she felt it useful to be in the organization and use that manpower to try and find out who did this. But it has always been Kazi's driving force.

So from going from this familial brother-sister setup to then feeling somewhat emasculated by Maya taking the position that he perhaps thinks is rightfully his, we've got a bit of conflict going on. And whereas Kazi was perhaps able to in the past calm Maya down and keep her level-headed, because he's a very cool collected cucumber, she is extremely reactive. You saw that when she goes for Kate Bishop, she's reactionary, impulsive. And that's dangerous in an organization like this, that is [a] criminal underbelly. They should be keeping a low profile, but Maya is absolutely finding her voice in this show. I think her quest for revenge is insatiable. And it'll be interesting to see if Kazi's able to do anything about that.

What appealed about the character to you in terms of how he's presented on the page? Because clearly, he has a comics history. We're not really delving into that yet. It feels like the show's focusing more on the relationships and building him from the ground up rather than being like, "Here's this comics person that you know." So was that a part of the appeal, or were there other components as well?

FEE: The appeal was just I'd play anything. I'd play anything in this Marvel world. I'm such a huge fan anyway. I didn't know anything about this character when I was auditioning for it. I still knew very little whenever I was cast, to tell you the truth, but I had read the Fraction comics that the series is based on, and yeah, very compelling. Super cool, brooding, sinister, sly, and all of those quite heightened things that we would associate with like a villainous character. But it's really wonderful how Marvel Studios have managed to take these villainous characters and give them a lot more depth. So there's a reason to be, and there's a reason to act in a certain way. We may not have explored fully this whole spectrum. We're trying to figure out what these motivations are and where Kazi's come from and how he's found himself to be in the position he's in, and what truly drives him. That's something that I loved exploring. And I hope the viewers enjoy watching it unfold in its sort of slow, beautiful way that we're doing.

You have a great scene with Jeremy Renner in this week's episode, the scene in the car. It's very brief, but there's some great humor that gets to play out. But I think that we also see a little bit of Kazi starting to feel conflicted with his dedication to Maya and wanting to help her. But then also there's the bigger picture that's at stake. So how is that going to play out through the rest of the season?

FEE: Well, yeah, you just hit the needle in the head. That's exactly what's going on. Kazi isn't as straightforward as just bad guy, and we'll do whatever he wants to get to the top. There clearly is a soul in there that has some sense of empathy, responsibility, and loyalty. And yeah, he's utterly conflicted with these two opposing factors. It'll be interesting to see if he manages to choose one over the other. Is it advantageous if he chooses one over the other for his own personal gain? It'll be really intriguing and interesting to see what actually happens.

The first four episodes of Hawkeye are currently available to stream on Disney+, with new episodes premiering weekly each Wednesday.