Before her debut in Marvel’s Hawkeye series, Alaqua Cox’s own spin-off show was already announced by Marvel in 2021. She played a leading role in Hawkeye by being a part of the tracksuit mafia of none other than Kingpin himself. What’s interesting about Maya Lopez are her Choctaw roots and also the fact that she’s an amputee as well as deaf.
While attending a press conference for Echo, director Sydney Freeland was asked about the show’s tone and what it would be like. The director answered by discussing the show’s story and how it’s focused on the titular character, who was "introduced as a villain" in the MCU. She said:
I think everything stems from story. So, what is the character? Where are they coming from? Where are they going? What is the emotion? And so, in our case, we have Maya Lopez, who is, you know, in ' Hawkeye ,' she’s introduced as a villain. And, you know, that was really our jumping-off point.
Beginning with Maya Lopez, the story automatically connects to “Wilson Fisk” and the "New York criminal underworld." The director said, "And you have Maya Lopez, you have Wilson Fisk, and you have this whole sort of New York criminal underworld as a jumping-off point. And so, you know, in the conversations early on, it was always talking about, like, hey, this is actually very interesting."
She explained how "the goal was never to try to turn her into [Captain America]." Moreover, they wished to "see how far [they] could go down that rabbit hole:"
And the fact that she’s a villain. And so, the goal was never to try to turn her into, like, Captain America. Right? In the conversations with Marvel, the response was like, hey, let’s lean into that. Let’s see if we can push it out a little. Let’s see how far we can go down that rabbit hole. And so, really, the tone and the visual style came from the story and the circumstances of the character.
Later, she discussed the way they started with Maya’s role of being a villain but instead asked themselves how a "deaf, indigenous amputee girl from Oklahoma" would eventually become "one of the top-ranking lieutenants in Kingpin's army:"
... One of the most interesting aspects about the character is the fact that she's a villain in ' Hawkeye ,' right? But then within that, once you start, sort of, pulling in that thread, then you look at where she comes from, right? And you look at, "Oh, this is a deaf, indigenous amputee girl from Oklahoma. How the hell does she end up being one of the top-ranking lieutenants in Kingpin's army?" And answering those questions was such an exciting place to be.
Freeland went on to claim that once they layered the “Choctaw cultural specifics onto that,” it "gave [them] a chance to tell a really fun story:"
And then answering the question, "Well, what is that like when she goes back home?" You know? And I think for, you know, just for myself and you know, being indigenous, being an American, it was such a fun and exciting place to be. And then once you layer on the Choctaw cultural specifics onto that, it gave us a chance to tell a really fun story, you know?
Brad Winderbaum, the head of Marvel Streaming, Television, and Animation revealed that even though the series is TV-MA, they didn’t really plan on hitting that particular milestone:
You know, 'Echo' is a more adult show. It's our first TV-MA show, but we didn't set out to make a TV-MA show. We set out to make a Maya Lopez show. This is a character who has a violent past, who's dealt with some real trauma, who has really difficult decisions to make, and ultimately has to confront people she loves to grow and change. Following this character, it created the tone. It created a grittier, more grounded story for the audience. That just so happened to be more adult. More TV-MA. But it really was always born from Maya as a character.
What is Marvel's Echo about?
Echo is a Marvel series that'll exclusively launch on the streaming service Disney+ and is based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. Its story explores the life of Maya Lopez, whose ruthless behavior in New York City finally comes neck-to-neck with her in her hometown. The only way out of it is to face her past, reconnect with her Native American roots, and truly understand the meaning of community and family if she wants to move forward in her life.
In Echo, fans will see Alaqua Cox reprising her role as Maya Lopez or Echo from Hawkeye, with Charlie Cox, Vincent D'Onofrio, Devery Jacobs, Chaske Spencer, Cody Lightning, Tantoo Cardinal, Graham Greene, and Zahn McClarnon also starring in the series. The only question that remains to be seen is if Maya Lopez can take down Wilson Fisk's organization.
You can watch the official trailer for Marvel's Echo below:
The first five episodes of Echo are currently available to stream on Disney+ and Hulu.
