By Shivam Das | Updated November 8, 2026
Quick answer: Williams and Eleanor’s romance in Black Doves Season 2 grew out of the characters’ sharp partnership rather than a romance plan imposed from the start. Creator Joe Barton originally imagined Williams as a revenge-driven adversary. After Ella Lily Hyland and Gabrielle Creevy were cast together, their chemistry helped inspire Eleanor as a new character — and the writing gradually turned their professional bond into a slow-burn love story.
Spoiler warning: This article discusses major relationship developments in Black Doves Season 2, including the characters’ confessions and first kiss.
A partnership that was never supposed to be a conventional love story
One of the most satisfying surprises in Black Doves Season 2 is the way Williams and Eleanor move from a lethal working partnership into something more vulnerable. They are introduced as assassins who understand the practical rules of their business: get the job, do it efficiently, negotiate the fee, and keep moving. Their banter is dry, their teamwork is effective, and neither seems especially interested in making emotional complications part of the arrangement.
That emotional distance is important. The relationship works because it does not begin with two characters openly searching for romance. They first connect through shared work, a similar sense of humour and the unusual comfort of being understood by someone who operates in the same dangerous world. The love story grows out of that familiarity — and the friction that appears when one partner starts wanting more than the other is ready to admit.
Joe Barton’s original idea for Williams changed when the cast came together
In Netflix Tudum’s Season 2 interview, Barton explained that Williams was initially conceived as a Season 1 villain motivated by revenge after Sam killed her partner. He had admired Gabrielle Creevy’s work in In My Skin and hoped she would play Williams. Ella Lily Hyland, however, proved such a natural fit for Williams that Barton created Eleanor as a new role for Creevy.
The key discovery came when the actors read together. Barton told Tudum that he could see how they might become “this little gang.” That casting-room connection gave the writers a new dynamic to explore. Instead of simply pairing two assassins for plot convenience, the series found a duo whose timing, differences and shared instincts could carry scenes even when the central spy conspiracy was elsewhere.
That is a useful distinction when discussing how the romance was built: the show did not begin with a fully mapped-out love story and then cast two actors to execute it. Barton has described a creative process in which the chemistry between Hyland and Creevy helped reveal what the characters could become. The relationship feels discovered through performance and writing, not mechanically added as a subplot.
Why the actors’ chemistry makes the slow burn believable
Hyland and Creevy have described their characters’ connection in terms of humour, understanding and a sense of operating as one unit. In the Tudum conversation, Hyland said she felt Williams could not exist without Eleanor. Creevy, meanwhile, described Williams as a person who sees Eleanor in a way other people do not. Those comments help explain why the relationship feels more specific than a standard “partners fall in love” plot.
Their humour is not decorative. It is a form of communication. Williams can be blunt and emotionally guarded; Eleanor is more open, but she can also avoid naming what is happening between them. Their banter gives them a way to stay close without immediately having to admit that closeness matters. The jokes become a protective layer — until the danger around them makes that protection harder to maintain.
The performers have also highlighted the importance of their Irish and Welsh accents. Rather than smoothing out those differences, the show lets the characters sound like themselves. That detail gives the pair a distinctive rhythm and reinforces the idea that they are not interchangeable action characters. Their voices, comic timing and cultural specificity are part of the chemistry.
Williams has to recognise her feelings before she can say them
Williams’ emotional journey is not a sudden personality replacement. Hyland has described her as someone beginning to realise that she cares about people and may not be as apathetic as she once appeared. The second season gives that change room to develop. Williams becomes jealous when Eleanor dates someone else, but the jealousy is not simply played as possessiveness. It exposes a conflict Williams has not yet worked out how to explain to herself.
In the Tudum interview, Hyland observed that Williams is not primarily afraid of rejection. Instead, she is trying to understand what she wants and how to act on it. That interpretation fits the character’s directness: when Williams finally recognises her feelings, she does not turn into a shy romantic lead. She approaches the problem with the same practical confidence she brings to a job — even if her timing and phrasing remain gloriously awkward.
Eleanor takes longer to acknowledge the relationship. Creevy told Tudum that Eleanor is avoiding what is in front of her and enjoys the chase. Beneath that playful resistance, however, is a more serious fear. Both women have lived without stable, nurturing relationships. Letting someone close can feel more dangerous than a shoot-out because it creates something they might actually lose.
The confession arrives in the least romantic setting imaginable
Barton’s writing keeps the romance inside the show’s action-thriller grammar. The characters do not get a quiet candlelit dinner to explain themselves. According to Netflix Tudum’s Season 2 ending explainer, Williams finally tells Eleanor how she feels in Episode 4 while they are under gunfire. Her confession is hesitant, funny and unusually sincere for someone who has spent so much time pretending not to need anybody.
The scene works because the danger does not pause for the characters’ emotional lives. Their feelings surface in the middle of the work they know how to do. The contrast is both comic and revealing: Williams can handle a weapon with confidence, but saying what she wants from Eleanor is a different kind of risk.
Episode 5 then gives Eleanor the chance to respond. The same Tudum explainer reports that, again under fire, Eleanor returns Williams’ feelings and the pair share their first kiss. It is a payoff, but not a tidy ending. The kiss confirms that the relationship is mutual; it does not answer how two professional assassins will make room for love in a life built around danger, secrecy and sudden departures.
Why Barton’s version of romance fits Black Doves
Black Doves is full of characters whose work makes ordinary intimacy difficult. Helen’s marriage is entangled with espionage. Sam’s past has repeatedly complicated his chances of building a safe romantic life. Williams and Eleanor belong to that same world, but their story adds a different kind of possibility: two people who are already partners in the most practical sense begin to discover that partnership can also mean emotional shelter.
The romance also expands the show’s idea of family. In the Tudum interview, Creevy spoke about the pair not having the nurturing support that many people take for granted. Their bond becomes meaningful because each offers the other recognition and companionship in a life where trust is scarce. They do not make the danger disappear. They make it less lonely.
That balance is why the relationship does not feel like a detour from the spy plot. It gives the action consequences. A mission is no longer only about whether the pair can get out alive; it is also about what they might lose if they do not. The show’s humour keeps the romance from becoming overly solemn, while its violence makes every moment of tenderness feel earned.
What the cast’s Vegas-wedding joke tells us about the future
When Tudum asked the actors about what might come next, Creevy jokingly campaigned for a Vegas wedding, complete with white tuxedos and cowboy boots. It is a playful answer, not confirmation of a future plot. Hyland and Creevy were clear that the characters are entering an uncertain new chapter and may not yet know what being together will mean.
That uncertainty is a promising place to leave them. The relationship has moved beyond implication: Williams has confessed, Eleanor has answered, and they have kissed. But the series has not turned them into a settled domestic couple. Their next challenge is not proving that they care; it is figuring out how to care for each other without losing the sharp, chaotic partnership that brought them together.
For Joe Barton, the romance appears to have grown from the same instinct that makes the show’s best character scenes work: put people with strong, sometimes inconvenient feelings into situations where those feelings are difficult to ignore. Williams and Eleanor are still dangerous, funny and unpredictable. They are also, finally, willing to let each other matter.
Frequently asked questions
Did Joe Barton originally plan Williams and Eleanor as a couple?
Netflix Tudum’s interview describes Williams as originally conceived as a revenge-driven Season 1 villain. Eleanor was created as a new role for Gabrielle Creevy after Ella Lily Hyland was cast as Williams and their chemistry became clear. The romance developed as the characters and their partnership evolved.
Who plays Williams and Eleanor in Black Doves?
Ella Lily Hyland plays Williams, and Gabrielle Creevy plays Eleanor.
When does Williams tell Eleanor she loves her?
Netflix’s Season 2 ending explainer places Williams’ confession in Episode 4, during a sequence under gunfire.
When do Williams and Eleanor kiss?
They share their first kiss in Episode 5, after Eleanor returns Williams’ feelings during another dangerous confrontation.
Why does Eleanor take longer to admit her feelings?
Creevy told Tudum that Eleanor is avoiding what she feels and enjoys the chase. The interview also frames intimacy as frightening for two characters who have not had much nurturing support in their lives.
Have the actors confirmed a Vegas wedding in a future season?
No. The Vegas-wedding idea was a playful wish from the actors in an interview, not an announced storyline or production confirmation.
Is Black Doves Season 2 streaming now?
Yes. Netflix’s official Season 2 coverage says the new season began streaming on November 5, 2026.
Sources and further reading
- Netflix Tudum: Williams and Eleanor’s romance, explained by the cast
- Netflix Tudum: Black Doves Season 2 ending explained
- Netflix Tudum: Black Doves Season 2 cast and characters
- ITV News: The cast on Welsh and Irish accents in Black Doves
- Radio Times: Black Doves Season 2 cast guide
Editorial note: This article separates confirmed episode events and statements from the actors’ playful hopes about possible future storylines. No future season or wedding has been announced here as fact.
