Movies

Echo Trivia | 70 facts about the MCU miniseries

“Echo” is a new miniseries streaming on Disney+. It is the tenth television series in the MCU.

So let’s find out some trivia and facts about the series.

Echo is an American television miniseries
The series is created by Marion Dayre for the streaming service Disney+
It is based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name
It is the tenth television series in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)
It is produced by Marvel Studios
Sharing continuity with the films of the franchise
The series 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
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
Then Dayre was revealed to be serving as head writer
With Freeland set to direct by March 2022
Filming occurred from late April to late August 2022
Taking place 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
The miniseries consists 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
It marks the first series under the “Marvel Spotlight” banner
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
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 direct episodes of the series
Freeland directs the first episode and others
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
A writers’ room for the series had been formed by the time development of the project was revealed in March 2021
In addition to Dayre and Rardin, writers for the series include Josh Feldman, Steven P. Judd, Ken Kristensen, Rebecca Roanhorse, Bobby Wilson, Ellen Morton, Jason Gavin, Shoshannah Stern, and Chantelle Wells
In November 2021, Dayre indicated that Dara Resnik, Jessica Mecklenburg, Kaitlyn Jeffers, and Paloma Lamb would also be writers on the series
Though they were not credited for any episodes
At least two episodes had been written by mid-February 2022
While writing for the other episodes was still continuing
Marvel said the series would explore the consequences of Lopez’s actions in Hawkeye and reveal her origin story
Lopez’s Indigeneity is reimagined for the MCU, having her be a member of the Choctaw tribe in Oklahoma rather than being from the Blackfeet Nation as in the comics
Freeland explained that the visuals in the comics “amounted to a ‘hodgepodge’ of imagery that made for a ‘muddied’ and ultimately inauthentic backstory for the character”
She described the series as an exploration of trauma
Judd, who is Choctaw, helped bring authenticity to the writing of the series
The first episode employs flashbacks to help explain Lopez’s backstory as well as including her appearances on Hawkeye
The series is set five months after Hawkeye, in May 2025
Location manager Ryan Schaetzle said the story would focus on a small town
Supervising producer Eleena Khamedoost said setting Echo in Tamaha, Oklahoma was “attractive” as it allowed the writers to make it a character in the series, and “showcase a world we have never seen in the MCU”
Matt Murdock / Daredevil’s inclusion in the series sees him searching for a former ally, which has been reported to be Jessica Jones
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
The series is the first Marvel Studios project to receive a TV-MA rating, which executive producer Brad Winderbaum called “a new direction for the [Marvel Studios] brand”
Freeland added that this rating allowed the characters to be shown as “people”, ones that “bleed, they die, they get killed and there are real consequences”
The series director Sydney Freeland drew inspiration from Daredevil and The Punisher (2017–2019)
Winderbaum and Freeland noted that the series would have “street-level stakes” that would be less focused on the larger MCU narrative and “cosmic consequences”
With Freeland adding it was “not the fate of the universe” but “the fate of family”
Much of the series is set after the events of Hawkeye while also exploring a “seismic event” in Lopez’s family history and how that leads her towards Wilson Fisk / Kingpin
Family is one of the main themes of the series, specifically how it is defined, with a spectrum of family dynamics shown in the series
Freeland said, at the start of Echo, Lopez has “one definition of family, and over the course of the show we’re going to challenge that definition and see if she’s able to see things in a different way”
Echo is initially portrayed as a villain in the comics, something Freeland was drawn to and Marvel Studios encouraged her to further explore and “push the envelope” with
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds a 71% rating
Based on 34 critics
With an average rating of 6.3/10
Earning it a “Fresh” score
On Metacritic, the series holds a weighted average score of 59 out of 100,
Based on 16 critics
Indicating “mixed or average reviews”