The Big Picture

“Echo” is a new MCU series on Disney+ that allows viewers to enter a superhero world without having to watch previous movies and shows. The series follows Maya Lopez, the adoptive daughter of crime lord Wilson Fisk, on her journey of self-discovery and her struggle against her former mentor. “Echo” is a TV-MA-rated series that takes a darker and more brutal approach, offering an authentic portrayal of Maya’s character and exploring Native American culture onscreen.

Echo is the latest MCU series from Disney+, and the first under the new Marvel Spotlight banner, that invites viewers to step into an action-packed superhero world without having to first watch a franchise’s worth of movies and TV shows. Starring newcomer Alaqua Cox, Echo is an origin story and journey of self-discovery for Maya Lopez, the adoptive daughter of crime lord Wilson Fisk, a.k.a. Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio), and like its connection to the series, this TV-MA-rated narrative takes a brutal page from Netflix’s Daredevil.

Though Maya was first introduced as an antagonist in Hawkeye, viewers won’t have to have seen the show to dive into Echo. We learn about her backstory as the daughter of a mafia commander, and find out she was taken under the wing of Kingpin early on, who taught her fear and violence, and how to hone her lethal skills. After learning sinister news, Maya is now on the run from her previous mentor, and returns home to Oklahoma, to her estranged Choctaw family and her legacy. Echo also features Charlie Cox, Graham Greene, Tantoo Cardinal, and Zahn McClarnon.

During an interview with Collider’s Steve Weintraub, co-stars Chaske Spencer and Devery Jacobs, who play Henry and Bonnie, explain why Marvel’s first TV-MA rating lent to a more authentic portrayal of Lopez’s anti-heroic character, and the trauma she’s processing. They tease a brutal, edgy series unlike most of what we’ve seen from the MCU before, as well as a showdown finale that had them wondering how they’d ever be able to pull the sequence off. The pair also share how Marvel Studios comitted to faithfully representing the Native American culture onscreen, their favorite Marvel movies and shows, and more. You can check it all out in the video above, or read the full interview transcript below.

Echo Maya Lopez must face her past, reconnect with her Native American roots and embrace the meaning of family and community if she ever hopes to move forward. Release Date January 9, 2024 Main Genre Drama Seasons 1 Studio Marvel Studios

COLLIDER: So, first of all, congrats on the series and I sincerely hope it’s a huge hit, but before we get into this, I like throwing a curveball at the beginning. Besides Echo, if someone has never seen anything you’ve done before, what is the first thing you’d like them watching and why?

DEVERY JACOBS: Do you have an idea?

CHASKE SPENCER: I kind of do, but it’s sort of weird — The English. I’ll go with that.

Sure. I heard about that one. That Emily Blunt, I think she’s okay.

SPENCER: [Laughs] That up-and-comer, she’s got a good future.

JACOBS: I would say probably the very first feature film I did back in the day where I was a lead, called Rhymes For Young Ghouls.

SPENCER: Yes. If you haven’t seen it, see that movie. It’s really good.

‘Echo’ Is Marvel’s First TV-MA Series

Jumping into why I get to talk to you guys, something that really surprised me about the show was that this is not your typical Disney+ series. This is more Netflix than Disney+ in terms of what you get away with. Can you talk about the fact that this is more for an older audience?

SPENCER: Well, it’s darker, it’s gritty, a lot of people get killed. It’s violent, but there’s a story there. What I like is that it’s about family, but it’s also about trauma, and I think all families, no matter what walk of life, you have that in your history, and I think people can relate to that. And also, she’s just a badass character. [Laughs] That’s pretty much it.

JACOBS: Echo marks the first TV-MA rating for all Marvel shows, and so I think with that it means we get to go deeper, and we get to hit harder. I think that there’s a grittiness and a brutality to it that we really get to feel the weight of Maya being a crime boss, that she is a killer, that she’s somebody who kills people for hire. That’s really dark, and to have her as an antihero who we’re rooting for just gives it an edge that I don’t know has been explored as much in the MCU.

When you saw the shooting schedule, what day did you see where you were like, “I cannot wait to film this,” or, “Oh my god, how are we filming this?”

SPENCER: I would say, for me, it was the roller-skating rink. That was a big one, because you see it on paper, but I’ve done enough movies where it’s gonna look different, and, “How are they going to do that?”

JACOBS: It was ambitious.

SPENCER: Yeah, it was ambitious, and I’m glad they were able to pull it off. You never know when you’re in the middle of filming. You never really know until you see it on the screen.

Oh, 100%.

JACOBS: I think it’s the finale for me. We can’t talk a whole lot about it right now…

Or can you?

JACOBS: [Laughs] There are cultural aspects to the finale that kind of bring everything to a head that involves ancestors, that involve present day people. Looking at it on paper, on the script, I was like, “How on earth are we going to film this?” But I think it was done so beautifully by our director, Sydney Freeland, who is just, like, a rock star in all of it, and I don’t think that we could have brought it home with anyone else.

Could it be called a powwow?

JACOBS: I don’t know. You’re saying words, and I’m just sitting here… [Laughs]

Marvel Was Dedicated to Keeping ‘Echo’ Authentic Through Representation
Image via Marvel Studios

I’m just throwing that out there, but I did hear that the way you guys filmed the powwow was very respectful and that Marvel really went above and beyond to make sure it was something great.

SPENCER: I don’t think we’re giving anything away; it was very authentic. They really went all out to get the stands there, people selling things.

JACOBS: The amount of background performers who were flown from communities across North America, across Turtle Island, it was a lot of people.

SPENCER: And you think about it, the people who got flown, what a great opportunity.

JACOBS: Absolutely.

SPENCER: Yeah, they get to show their art.

JACOBS: I thought it was really special, too, that we’re portraying Choctaw people from Oklahoma while we’re filming it in Atlanta and in Georgia, and that’s the home territory of a lot of indigenous folks from the Trail of Tears, so it was almost like a homecoming to be able to bring a lot of people who crossed Indian country into Georgia, the place where they were forcibly displaced from. So, it was really meaningful, and I think that it was really special.

And I was not referring to said event, but I think the thing that was most ambitious, that I was curious how they were going to do, was the grand showdown that’s gonna happen at some point.

Wait, wait, you’re telling me that at the end of a Marvel show, there’s a big action set piece that involves a protagonist and an antagonist?

JACOBS: Huge spoiler, I know.

This is shocking. I have never ever seen this before. So obviously you guys are fans of Marvel; if you had to pick, and I’m putting you on the spot, what are the three Marvel films that you think everyone needs to see? Or shows.

SPENCER: I’ll go with Iron Man and then [Avengers] Endgame, the last two movies.

Infinity War and Endgame.

SPENCER: Yeah. I would say those are powerful, too. When Tony Stark dies? I shed a tear, man.

Spoilers. I’m joking. I think people know.

JACOBS: I’m gonna go a little off-kilter. I’m gonna say ones that are not necessarily the most popular. I’m going to say Thor: Ragnarok as one of them, I’ll say Moon Knight as another one of them, and then probably the third would be Shang-Chi [and the Legend of the Ten Rings].

Oh yeah, I like the diversity of the picks.

Image via Marvel Studios

So, I’m curious which of your friends and family were actually the most excited when you told them, “By the way, I’m gonna be in the MCU.”

SPENCER: My nephew. Yeah, he loved it. He loved it. We got those hats…

JACOBS: Mhm.

SPENCER: Yeah, I gave him that hat. He’s gonna wear that when it premieres. It’s a really cool feeling.

JACOBS: I think the person who was most excited for me is my dad, who I also gave a hat to. Yeah, it was definitely my dad. I think he just wants me to be an action figure. I think that’s, like, his dream for me, is to be an action figure. So, we’ll see if Bonnie becomes one. [Laughs]

You know the Funko Pops? They make Funko Pops for so many characters. I would imagine that that is a real possibility.

JACOBS: Oh, we’ve been fully scanned.

SPENCER: Oh yeah, we got scanned. Every time we finished a scene we’d have to go get scanned.

All six episodes of Echo will be available to stream on Disney+ and Hulu beginning January 9.