Echo Season 1 TV Series
Echo is an American television miniseries created for the streaming service Disney+, based on Marvel Comics featuring the character of the same name. It is the tenth television series in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) produced by Marvel Studios, sharing continuity with the films of the franchise, and is a spin-off of the series Hawkeye (2021). It sees Maya Lopez return to her hometown where she must come to terms with her past, reconnect with her Native American roots, and embrace her family and community. Marion Dayre and Amy Rardin serve as head writers and Sydney Freeland leads the directing team.
Alaqua Cox reprises her role as Maya Lopez / Echo from Hawkeye, with Chaske Spencer, Tantoo Cardinal, Charlie Cox, Devery Jacobs, Zahn McClarnon, Cody Lightning, Graham Greene, and Vincent D’Onofrio also starring. Development of the spin-off began by March 2021, with Etan and Emily Cohen attached as head writers, and Alaqua Cox confirmed to be returning. The series was formally announced in November 2021, when Dayre was revealed to be serving as head writer, with Freeland set to direct by March 2022. Filming took place from late April to late August 2022, in the Atlanta metropolitan area including Atlanta, Peachtree City, Social Circle, and Grantville, Georgia. In May 2022, Marvel revealed further cast members and that Catriona McKenzie would also direct for the series, while Rardin’s involvement was revealed in September.
Echo was released in its entirety simultaneously on Disney+ and Hulu on January 9, 2024, consisting of five episodes. It is Marvel Studios’ first television release to debut on Hulu and to receive a TV-MA rating. It is part of Phase Five of the MCU and the first series under the “Marvel Spotlight” banner.
Echo Season 1 TV Series
STORY
Episodes 1
“Chafa”
A flashback reveals the origins of the Choctaw, with Chafa emerging as a human from under the earth at Nanih Waiya.
In 2007, Maya Lopez is in a car accident with her mother Taloa, after criminals cut their car’s brakes. After losing both her leg and her mother in the accident, she moves from Tamaha, Oklahoma to New York City with her father William, whom Maya’s grandmother Chula blames for the death of her daughter. William becomes a commander of the Tracksuit Mafia while his employer Wilson Fisk becomes Maya’s adoptive uncle. Years later, Maya witnesses Clint Barton assault the Tracksuit Mafia and kill William.[a] Fisk arranges for Maya to work under him, promising to find William’s killer. During a mission for Fisk, Maya is attacked by Daredevil. In December 2024, Maya encounters Barton and, after learning Fisk arranged William’s death by tipping off Barton, avenges her father by shooting Fisk in the eye.[b] Five months later, Maya returns to Tamaha and meets with her cousin, Biscuits, and her uncle, Henry. She convinces them to not let anyone else know of her presence. Maya asks Henry to help her dismantle Fisk’s operations so she can take over his empire, but Henry refuses, not wanting to endanger his family. Elsewhere, Fisk, who had survived, recovers from his injury in a hospital.
Episodes 2
“Lowak”
In a flashback to Alabama in 1200 AD, Lowak is participating in a game of Choctaw Stickball against another tribe. When Lowak’s team is close to winning, the opposing side send out a formidable warrior who helps to even the score. Lowak is desperate to avoid exile for her team if they should lose and receives a vision during an intense melee. With her hands glowing, Lowak breaks out of the melee with the ball and secures victory for her tribe.
Maya enlists Biscuits’ help in hijacking a cargo train guarded by Fisk’s men. She locates a munitions container, and plants a homemade bomb inside one of the crates. As she attempts to get off, her prosthetic leg becomes stuck in a coupling. Maya receives a vision of her ancestors, then manages to push the coupling off to free her leg after her hands begin to glow. The shipment arrives at one of Fisk’s armories in New York. Black Knife Cartel leader Zane dispatches men to unload the crate, triggering Maya’s bomb which destroys the facility. Maya later gets a new prosthetic leg from Skully, who reveals that one of the women in Maya’s vision was Chafa, the first Choctaw. Henry learns about the munitions explosion and later confronts Maya, warning her to stop these attacks before she ends up hurting people close to her, but she dismisses this. Meanwhile, Chula receives word that Maya is in town, and Bonnie learns of Maya’s return in Tamaha from Biscuits. Maya refuses to interact with either of them.
Episodes 3
“Tuklo”
In a flashback to the late 1800s, Tuklo practices shooting with her father, one of the Lighthorsemen. Despite wanting to be a lighthorseman, her father forbids this due to her gender. Tuklo’s father rides out to confront some local criminals while Tuklo braids her hair like a Choctaw warrior. She receives a vision of Chafa and Lowak, and her hands begin to glow. The criminals ambush Tuklo’s father, but she hears the attack and arrives in time to save him and his group.
Skully is visited by Chula, who encourages her to reach out to Maya. Maya receives a sudden vision of Chafa, Lowak and Tuklo, and is captured by Henry’s employee, Vickie. Vickie is revealed to be in allegiance with Fisk, having tipped off the organization to Maya’s location. He holds both Maya and Henry hostage at Henry’s bowling alley, and captures Bonnie after she shows up to visit Henry. Zane arrives for Maya, and betrays and kills Vickie. After a confrontation with Bonnie over her absence, Maya escapes and attacks Zane’s enforcers. Zane threatens Bonnie and Henry, and holds Maya at gunpoint as he prepares to shoot her and Henry. After receiving a phone call, Zane and his men leave. Maya sends Bonnie away, promising to reconcile with her later. Maya learns from Henry that Fisk is still alive, and Henry promises to help her. Skully gives Maya a new look for her prosthetic. On her way out of town, Maya returns home and is confronted by Fisk.
Episodes 4
“Taloa”
In 2008, a young Maya is verbally abused by an ice cream vendor, who fails to understand her request for ice cream as he doesn’t know that she’s deaf. An enraged Fisk retaliates by brutally attacking the vendor. Although Maya witnesses this, she shows no remorse and kicks the vendor as payback for his cruelty. Several years later, Maya is about to begin working for Fisk, when he offers a final lesson – they can only trust one another. While they finish their shared dinner, Fisk’s ASL translator is dismissed and soon killed.
Fisk gives Maya an augmented reality contact lens so that they can communicate without an ASL interpreter. Fisk tells her that he will give her his criminal empire if she agrees to return with him to New York, giving her one day to decide. Maya shares this with Henry, but receives an abrupt vision of her ancestors; at the Choctaw Powwow festival grounds, Chula receives the same vision. Henry takes Maya to see Chula, who tells her that their ancestors help them when they need it most, recounting a vision that she received when giving birth to Maya’s mother. Maya leaves in anger, feeling abandoned by Chula as a child. Chula later begins to work on a special garment. That night, Maya goes to Fisk’s hotel with the intention of killing him. Revealing to her that he killed his father after seeing him beat his mother,[c] Fisk tells her to make good on her threat if that is what she needs, but she rejects this. He repeats his invitation to join her in New York, but is enraged to find out the next morning that Maya has left Tamaha without him.
Episodes 5
“Maya”
In a flashback to her childhood, Maya hits a woodpecker with a slingshot. Taloa reprimands Maya for hurting an innocent life, and, with her hands glowing, heals the woodpecker. Later, the two release it back into the wild.
Biscuits messages Maya that Chula and Bonnie are missing, and she returns to Tamaha. She quickly visits Chula’s home, and is met by a vision of her mother, Taloa. Taloa tells her that she is the embodiment of their people’s legacy, and that this legacy will echo through her actions. The vision ends, revealing Chula’s finished garment. At the Choctaw Powwow Festival, Maya locates Fisk, who has kidnapped Chula and Bonnie, and threatens to kill her entire family for betraying him. Biscuits incapacitates Fisk’s men with a monster truck, while Henry kills Zane. Maya shares her Choctaw powers with Chula and Bonnie, who overpower Fisk’s men. Using her powers, Maya takes Fisk to the memory of his father beating his mother, in an effort to heal his trauma and help him let go of his anger. Returning to reality, an outraged Fisk demands to know what she did to him, and leaves the festival before the police arrive. The next day, Maya says goodbye to her family before leaving Tamaha. In a mid-credits scene, Fisk is on his airplane watching with interest a news story about the lack of front-runners in the New York mayoral elections.
CAST
- Alaqua Cox as Maya Lopez / Echo:
A deaf Native American Choctaw and the former leader of the Tracksuit Mafia, a criminal gang working for Wilson Fisk. Director and executive producer Sydney Freeland noted that Maya is in “a very vulnerable, emotional place” and has “all this bottled-up emotion and rage and feeling inside of her”, which Fisk is able to exploit. Maya does not have the ability to perfectly copy another person’s movements from the comics, which Freeland felt was “kind of lame”. Stunt coordinator Mark Scizak was able to incorporate Cox’s prosthetic leg into her fights, with Scizak describing Maya’s fighting style as “a very grounded mix of MMA and a bunch of martial arts”. Darnell Besaw portrays a young Maya Lopez. - Chaske Spencer as Henry “Black Crow” Lopez:
Maya’s uncle and William’s brother, who owns a local roller-skating rink and is still connected to Fisk’s criminal empire. Spencer said Henry “feels guilty” that William died and Maya’s return makes him face things he is not ready to yet. - Tantoo Cardinal as Chula:
Maya’s estranged grandmother. Cardinal explained that at the start of the series, the two’s relationship “is pretty fractured and they are not in a good place” given Chula’s anger following the death of her daughter, Maya’s mother, led to Maya and her father leaving.[7]: 5 Isabella Madrigal portrays a young Chula.
A blind lawyer from Hell’s Kitchen who leads a double life as a masked vigilante. Daredevil appears in a flashback sequence where he fights Maya while she is on an early assignment for Fisk. Palmer explained that Daredevil’s inclusion was done in a way that the creatives hoped would feel like it was part of his story that had been established in Marvel Television’s Netflix series, though still accessible for viewers who had not seen those series. He said, “we just wanted to make sure that it honored what came before it, but hopefully pushed it forward also” and helped lead into the Disney+ series Daredevil: Born Again. It was previously reported that the character’s appearance in the series would see him searching for a former ally, which was reported to be Jessica Jones. - Devery Jacobs as Bonnie:
A “resilient and strong willed” person who is a child of deaf adults (CODA), Maya’s estranged cousin, and an EMT. She “took it hard” when Maya first left given they were so close, and is hopeful to rekindle that relationship once she returns. Jacobs previously voiced Kahhori in the second season of Marvel Studios Animation’s What If…?, which she called a “coincidence” that she was part of two Marvel Studios projects and noting the two characters were not related. Wren Zhawenim Gotts portrays a young Bonnie. - Zahn McClarnon as William Lopez: Maya’s deceased father and a former commander of the Tracksuit Mafia.
- Cody Lightning as Biscuits:
Maya’s “well-meaning” cousin, who is “fun-loving and good natured”. Lightning said that Biscuits becomes Maya’s “sidekick who provides some comic relief for her”, calling him “a big earnest puppy dog” who has a strong loyalty to family. - Graham Greene as Skully: A grandfather-figure to Maya, who owns the town pawn shop. Unlike other members of Maya’s estranged family, Skully is more willing to find a way forward in their relationship.
- Vincent D’Onofrio as Wilson Fisk / Kingpin:
A crime lord in New York who is Maya’s adoptive uncle and the man responsible for her father’s death. After he was shot by Maya during the events of Hawkeye (2021), Fisk begins to wear an eyepatch on one eye, an homage to a point in the comics where he was blinded in both eyes. Despite being shot by Maya, D’Onofrio noted that Fisk is working hard to get her back in his life, saying the series shows the two in a “very father-daughter trepidatious period”. Executive producer Richie Palmer enjoyed being able to see a different side of the character’s “emotionality” in the series, since he was “humbled” by Maya at the end of Hawkeye, which made him a “bit of a changed man”. D’Onofrio believed he portrayed the character in a way that it elicited the same “uneasy” feelings about him as he did in his portrayal on Daredevil (2015–2018), and wanted to show that he can “care for people in a real way”, which enhances Fisk’s intrigue and scariness. When asked if Fisk was being set up as the Thanos of the MCU’s street-level projects, executive producer Brad Winderbaum agreed, calling the series a “crucial chapter” in the character’s journey, and that Echo would “set the stage in some remarkable ways” for his next appearances. At the end of the series, when Maya uses her powers on Fisk to try to heal his childhood trauma, D’Onofrio believed this had “enlightened” Fisk, rather than changed him, which leads him to consider running as New York City’s mayor to amass more power.
PRODUCTION
Development
In December 2020, Alaqua Cox was announced as having been cast as the Marvel Comics character Maya Lopez / Echo in Marvel Studios’ Disney+ series Hawkeye (2021). By March 2021, Marvel Studios was in early development on a spin-off from Hawkeye centered on Cox’s Lopez for Disney+, with Etan Cohen and Emily Cohen set to write and executive produce. During the Disney+ Day event in November 2021, the series was officially announced as Echo, and Marion Dayre was serving as head writer by then instead of the Cohens. Amy Rardin would also join the series to serve as head writer alongside Dayre. Bert & Bertie, who directed the Hawkeye episode “Echoes” in which Lopez is introduced, did not believe they would be involved with the spin-off series and felt it would be appropriate for someone in the Native American community to further tell the character’s story. In March 2022, Sydney Freeland shared a casting call on her Instagram page, indicating her involvement in the series as a director. Marvel Studios confirmed Freeland as a director in May, while also announcing that Catriona McKenzie would also direct for the series. Freeland directed all episodes except the third, which was directed by McKenzie. Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige, Stephen Broussard, Louis D’Esposito, Brad Winderbaum, Victoria Alonso, and Richie Palmer serve as executive producers along with Dayre, Jason Gavin, and Freeland, while Rardin is a co-executive producer. The series consists of five episodes.
RELEASE
January 9, 2024
