Either Lonnie “The Hawk” Hawkins finally learned how to be a good father, or history repeated itself. The cast of The Hawk has some thoughts.
**Spoilers ahead for the Season 1 finale of The Hawk, now streaming on Netflix**
If you reached Episode 10 (“Pickle”) of Will Ferrell and Molly Shannon‘s new Netflix comedy, you know that in the very final moments of Season 1, Ferrell’s titular character comes so close, once again, to winning the U.S. Open, only to lose by one stroke on the 18th hole of the Pebble Beach. But did Lonnie miss it on purpose? That’s the real question.
While years prior, it was a cut-and-dry situation of Lonnie choking while facing off against Golden Fisk (Luke Wilson), the show makes it saliently clear that in this case, Lonnie may have missed on purpose to save his son, Lance (Jimmy Tatro) — who he thought was being chased down by mobsters. So that’s it, right? Lonnie finally do the right thing! Not so fast, because the way he responds to the miss certainly makes it seem like he was trying to get it in. Lance be damned, I guess.
So, where does the cast fall on this up-in-the-air argument?
“There’s no way,” Wilson told DECIDER. “I just think in the world of pro sports, you know, that a guy like that, a three-time major winner, even for his beloved son, I don’t think he would miss. But that’s just my opinion.”
“I think, if anything, Lance may have gotten it in his head, but I don’t think, ultimately, he did it on purpose. I think he was still going for it,” added Tatro. “Maybe his heart missed it, but his brain wanted it.”
“When I read the script, I did not think that [he really tried to win],” said Shannon, a frequent collaborator with Ferrell who plays his estranged wife in the show. “I believed that he was gonna let his son win and do the right thing.”
“I think my character would have given him the benefit of the doubt and thought he did it on purpose,” said Fortune Feimster, who acts as the caddy for Ferrell’s unconventional character.
As for the man behind the character, Ferrell — who also serves as series co-creator and EP — has more of a shrewd opinion on whether or not Lonnie did “the right thing” and attempted to save Lance from a few broken bones at the hands of some nasty mobsters.
“If I had to, I think Lonnie did try to make it, though,” he shared, saying that he thinks Lonnie’s parental instincts “didn’t kick in.” That said, Ferrell does think Lonnie immediately tried to start doing damage control and make everyone think he did it for his son, even if he really didn’t. “He carried such shame and guilt, and he was so embarrassed that that’s why he said I missed on purpose. For sure. But I think, I think he really tried to make it,” the actor and comedian told DECIDER.
At the end of the day, however, Ferrell said that he is open to hearing anyone’s thoughts on whether or not Lonnie finally became the dad that Lance had always wanted him to be, especially if that endears him to the viewers and moves the needle toward a potential second season.
“I’m going to leave it up to the audience, you know?” Ferrell said with a laugh.
The Hawk Season 1 is now streaming on Netflix.
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