Quick answer: Williams and Eleanor work because their connection is built on more than romantic tension. Ella Lily Hyland and Gabrielle Creevy play two assassins who understand each other’s humor, rhythms and instincts so instinctively that affection can surface in the middle of a firefight without making either character feel suddenly out of place. Their Irish and Welsh voices, sharply different temperaments and shared professional shorthand make the partnership feel lived-in before the romance becomes explicit.
Spoiler warning: This article discusses major relationship developments in Black Doves Season 2, including the confession under fire and the first kiss.
The chemistry starts with teamwork, not a love story
Williams (Ella Lily Hyland) and Eleanor (Gabrielle Creevy) are introduced as a highly functional, frequently argumentative assassin partnership. Their exchanges have the rhythm of people who have already learned each other's habits: one can anticipate where the other will stand, what she will say and how she will react when a plan goes sideways. That fluency gives the pair a comic charge, but it also creates the conditions for intimacy.
Creator Joe Barton told Netflix Tudum that Williams was originally conceived as a Season 1 antagonist seeking revenge on Sam after he killed her former partner. Barton wanted Creevy for Williams, but Hyland proved such a natural fit that he created Eleanor as a new role for her. When the actors read together, he saw the beginnings of a distinctive little team. The romance, then, grew out of the performers' connection and the characters' evolving dynamic rather than being imposed as a twist from the start.
That origin helps explain why the relationship feels convincing. The audience sees two people become indispensable to each other through repeated work, friction and shared danger. Romance is not a replacement for their professional bond; it is an unexpected truth that the bond gradually exposes.
Different accents become part of their shared language
In their Netflix Tudum interview, Creevy pointed to humor and understanding as the foundations of the pairing. She also singled out the contrast between the actors' Welsh and Irish accents, saying that the sound of their voices helped them connect. Hyland agreed, describing the pair as almost one entity and saying she strongly feels Williams cannot exist without Eleanor.
That is more than a novelty of casting. The accents give the characters distinct musicality, and their scenes gain energy from the way the voices meet, interrupt and bounce off each other. Their banter is not polished flirtation. It is quick, blunt and sometimes absurd, which suits two people whose daily work leaves little room for conventional emotional disclosure.
The show's decision to let the actors retain those regional voices also gives the duo a particular texture. Their identity is not smoothed into a generic action-thriller register. The characters sound rooted in themselves, and that specificity makes their connection feel more personal.
Williams discovers that wanting connection is not weakness
Williams begins from a place of emotional self-protection. Her revenge story in Season 1 gives her a clear objective and a reason to keep other people at a distance. Season 2 complicates that posture. Hyland told Tudum that Williams is beginning to realize she cares about people and may not be as apathetic as she once believed.
Her jealousy when Eleanor dates someone else is revealing because it is not simply possessiveness. It exposes a person who has found a connection she did not know how to ask for. Hyland describes Williams as being in conflict with herself: once she acknowledges her feelings, she almost immediately tries to turn the new relationship into a practical exercise, proposing a list of pros and cons. That is a very Williams response. She can admit the feeling, but she still wants to manage it like a problem that can be solved.
It is also a subtle character shift. Williams does not suddenly become sentimental or lose her dry edge. Instead, her capacity for attachment becomes visible beneath the same hard-to-rattle exterior. The character remains recognizable while gaining a new emotional dimension.
Eleanor takes longer because letting someone in is frightening
Creevy describes Eleanor as slower to name what is happening. In the Tudum interview, she says Eleanor is avoiding the obvious and enjoys the chase, even though she has the same feelings. That hesitation makes sense for a character whose life has been organized around survival rather than security.
Creevy offered a particularly revealing explanation: the two women do not have families or nurturing support around them, and allowing someone close can therefore feel terrifying. For Eleanor, Williams becomes a safe place in a dangerous world. Creevy described that connection as love, even if it could also be understood as friendship, because it gives Eleanor a form of understanding she does not appear to find elsewhere.
This is why the relationship has emotional weight beyond the novelty of two assassins falling for each other. Both women are practiced at reading threats, but intimacy asks them to take a different kind of risk: to be seen without the protection of a job, a weapon or a joke.
Why a confession under gunfire feels right for them
Their emotional breakthrough does not arrive in a quiet room. Williams admits her feelings while the characters are under fire, delivering a confession that begins uncertainly and then becomes unmistakable: “I love ya. Probably. Definitely, actually.” The line is funny because it sounds like Williams thinking aloud under pressure. It is moving because she does not wait for a safe moment to say it.
Netflix's Season 2 ending explainer places that confession in Episode 4. In Episode 5, Eleanor returns the feeling during another burst of gunfire, and the two share their first kiss. The show's timing is deliberately ridiculous, but it is also emotionally coherent. These women spend their lives in situations where a calm, private opportunity may never arrive. Their relationship develops in the world they actually inhabit, not in a romantic pause inserted from another genre.
The action also makes their vulnerability more visible. A firefight demands concentration, trust and an instinctive understanding of where a partner is. A confession demands a different kind of courage. By putting the two demands in the same scene, the series turns the emotional admission into an extension of the partnership rather than an interruption of it.
The stunt work makes the romance look effortless — even when it is not
Creevy was candid with Tudum about how technically difficult the action scenes were to perform. She explained that actors must think not only about their own performance but also about stunt doubles, the stunt crew and the camera. Acting as though a character is being shot is a precise task, even when the finished scene looks spontaneous.
That behind-the-scenes detail is important to the title's idea of effortless chemistry. The relationship feels natural on screen partly because a great deal of work makes the danger look unforced. The actors have to preserve the emotional thread while the production coordinates movement, timing and safety. The result is a scene in which the characters can sound almost casual while the world around them is collapsing.
Hyland also praised the work involved in the season's more complex action passages, including sequences shared with Ambika Mod and Keira Knightley. The point is not that every moment is improvised or easy. It is that the performances make complicated scenes feel like the characters are simply being themselves.
They are funny because neither one behaves like a conventional romantic lead
Williams and Eleanor are not softened into familiar romantic archetypes. They remain brash, strange, funny and sometimes alarming. Creevy told Tudum that their lack of a filter is part of what makes them lovable. Hyland similarly said that people contain different layers and that the characters' mix of qualities feels refreshing.
Their humor also protects them. A joke can deflect a question, disguise fear or let a difficult feeling surface without requiring a solemn speech. The show understands that comedy is not the opposite of sincerity. For these two, it is often the route by which sincerity becomes bearable.
That balance is what keeps the romance from feeling like a detour. Their relationship does not make the action less central, and the action does not make their feelings less real. The series lets both exist at once, often in the same breath.
What their relationship could mean next
Neither actor pretends to know exactly what comes next. Hyland said the characters are in a new chapter defined by uncertainty. Creevy, meanwhile, has noticed that love has made Williams warmer and more willing to let people in. Their playful pitch for a Vegas wedding — complete with white tuxedos and cowboy boots — is not a confirmed story development, but it captures how enthusiastically the actors have embraced the pairing.
That distinction matters. The cast can hope for a wedding, and fans can enjoy imagining one, but Season 2 leaves the relationship at the beginning of a new phase rather than promising a particular future. The more interesting question is how two people who have built their lives around danger will make room for care without losing the strange, funny partnership that brought them together.
My reading is that their chemistry feels effortless because it is not built on perfect compatibility. It comes from recognition. They understand each other's humor, accept each other's oddness and know how to function together when the stakes are high. The romance is convincing because the friendship and professional trust were already there.
Frequently asked questions
Who plays Williams and Eleanor in Black Doves?
Ella Lily Hyland plays Williams, and Gabrielle Creevy plays Eleanor in Black Doves.
Why do Williams and Eleanor have such strong chemistry?
Their connection combines humor, mutual understanding, contrasting but complementary personalities, and a strong professional bond. Hyland and Creevy have also spoken about how their Irish and Welsh accents help create a distinctive rhythm between the characters.
When does Williams tell Eleanor she loves her?
Williams confesses her feelings in Season 2, Episode 4, during a scene under gunfire. She begins uncertainly before making the feeling clear.
When do Williams and Eleanor kiss?
They share their first kiss in Season 2, Episode 5, after Eleanor returns Williams's feelings during another dangerous confrontation.
Did the actors always know the characters would become romantic?
Not necessarily. Creevy said she initially viewed them as good friends in Season 1, while Hyland described the romance as something that unfolded naturally as the characters developed.
Do Ella Lily Hyland and Gabrielle Creevy want Williams and Eleanor to get married?
They joked in a Netflix Tudum interview about wanting a Vegas wedding with white tuxedos and cowboy boots. That is the actors' playful wish, not confirmation of a future plot point.
Is the Williams and Eleanor romance confirmed by the show's creator?
Yes. Joe Barton discussed the characters' strong chemistry and their developing feelings in Netflix's Season 2 coverage. Netflix's ending explainer also confirms their confession and first kiss.
Related Black Doves coverage
- Ella Lily Hyland and Gabrielle Creevy on the Romance – What the Cast Hopes Comes Next
- Their First Kiss Comes With a Live Grenade – The Most Dangerous Love Confession
- Vegas Wedding Dreams – The Cowboy-Boots Future Fans Already Want for Williams and Eleanor
Sources and further reading
- Netflix Tudum: Black Doves Season 2 Gives Williams and Eleanor a Love Story to Die For (Nov. 5, 2026)
- Netflix Tudum: Black Doves Season 2 Ending Explained
- Netflix Tudum: Black Doves Season 2 Cast and Characters
- ITV News: Black Doves stars on Welsh and Irish accents (Nov. 6, 2026)
- Rotten Tomatoes: Season 2, Episode 5 – “Murder Mix”
By Shivam Das
