Jeremy Renner Admits He “Didn’t Want To Come Back” From Near-Death Experience During Snowplow Accident

Jeremy Renner reflected on his near-death experience in his recent memoir, My Next Breath, and claimed that he went through a version of death that offered him peace and calm before he was revived. According to Variety, the Avengers star recently expanded on his experience during an interview with Kelly Ripa on the Let’s Talk Off Camera podcast. Renner called the 2023 accident a “magical” experience that left him “pissed off” after he was revived and realized he was back on the ground after the accident. As he explains to Ripa, he felt in the moment that he was a “man who didn’t want to come back,” and it has brought a new outlook to him upon his return.

“It’s a wonderful, wonderful relief to be removed from your body,” Renner told Ripa. “It is the most exhilarating peace you could ever feel. You don’t see anything but what’s in your mind’s eye. Like, you’re the atoms of who you are, the DNA, your spirit. It’s the highest adrenaline rush, but the peace that comes with it … it’s magnificent. It’s so magical.”

The Hawkeye star also admitted that he was prepared to go away forever and had made peace during his experience.

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“I didn’t want to come back,” he continued. “I remember I was brought back and I was so pissed off. I came back, I’m like, ‘Aww!’ I came back and saw [my] eyeball and I’m like, ‘Oh sh-t, I’m back.’ Saw my legs. I’m like, ‘Yeah, that’s gonna hurt later.’ I’m like, ‘All right, let me continue to breathe.’”

Renner had revealed in his memoir that he had briefly died 30 minutes after his shocking Sno-Cat accident on New Year’s Day 2023. As Variety notes, Renner was hospitalized for blunt chest trauma, including eight broken ribs, a broken right knee, a broken ankle, a broken left leg and ankle, and a broken clavicle and shoulder.

“I could see my lifetime,” Renner wrote in the book. “I could see everything all at once. In death, there was no time, no time at all, yet it was also all time and forever.”

The actor explained how his second chance at life has opened the door to changing up his life in a way that puts his fears at ease.

“[To] really be able to be back here and live it on my terms as the captain of my own ship. And get on it or off it, I don’t give a f-ck. I’m going to live life on my own terms and for nobody else. [It’s] very clear. The white noise is ripped away,” Renner added.

Now that he’s back to work and feeling much healthier, Renner is also ready to return to his role as Hawkeye for the next Avengers entries, even if Season 2 of his Disney+ series has fallen due to budget issues and a pay dispute. He wants to return, though, when the schedules can work out.

Renner can be seen in Mayor of Kingstown on Paramount+, and he’ll be appearing in Rian Johnson’s third entry in the Knives Out series, Wake Up Dead Man. It’ll hit theaters and Netflix in the fall.

Will Hawkeye Season 2 ever happen? How much will Hawkeye factor into Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars? Let us know in the comments!