Echo Will Be An Be An “Exploration of Trauma” Featuring Flashbacks To Maya Lopez’s Ancestors

Echo‘s first trailer was released today, and the new Marvel Studios series is set to debut in January on Disney+ and Hulu. The new show continues the story of Maya Lopez/Echo (Alaqua Cox), the character who was first introduced in the MCU in Hawkeye back in 2021. ComicBook.com recently attended a trailer event for the series, and director and executive producer Sydney Freeland confirmed that Echo is a villain, and teased some of the darker themes in the series. The post-Avengers: Endgame era of the MCU has featured a lot of characters dealing with grief and trauma, and it sounds like Echo won’t be a reprieve from those ideas. 

“Thematically, this show is sort of an exploration of trauma, how we deal with it, how we cope with it, how it affects us, how we affect it, how it affects those around us,” Freeland shared. “The theme of the show is very much, we’re trying to be street, we’re operating a little more on a street level sort of view. These aren’t cosmic consequences. It’s not the fate of the universe at stake. This is the fate of family. And what we’re going to see is sort of the beginnings of the origin for not only Maya Lopez but then also this sort of seismic sort of fracturing event that’s going to affect her entire family. And that we’re going to see has ripples and consequences throughout the entire show.” 

Similar to Ms. Marvel, Echo will also feature flashbacks to the titular character’s ancestors. 

“One other thread that I haven’t mentioned thus far is that we are also going to be, we have this two-pronged approach to the series. There’s this family drama sort of driving everything, but then there’s this undercurrent of this, there’s sort of a fantastical side, which is that we are going to be visiting Maya’s matrilineal ancestors … going quite a bit backward in time. And that is going to those two things, this family drama and these ancestral stories that we’re going to see are going to come head to head,” Freeland explained. 

Sydney Freeland Talks “Authenticity” in Echo:

During the press event for Echo, Freeland also spoke about the importance of representing both the deaf community and the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.

“Authenticity, I think, well, I think it started in the writer’s room was having very much, it’s a multi-pronged approach,” Freeland answered when asked what was most important to her when making Echo. “It’s like we had to have Native representation. That was a must. We had to have deaf representation. That was a must. So it really started within our writers, our writer’s room. And then I think with, obviously when I came on board, then we tried to keep that energy going, but we had Native people throughout the behind the scenes and front of the camera as well. But I think another big thing that was important to us is the Choctaw, our partnership with the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. Early on in the process, once we kind of had our pilot script, we took a trip. It was myself and my department heads, and one of the great things is that none of them have ever been to a pow before.”

She explained, “And I think what I realized in that moment was, which I think rarely happens in my experience with being portrayed in Native films, is going to the people and getting their partnership basically it was crickets on the side of the table and basically I said, ‘No, no, we’re not here to tell you what we’re going to do. We are here to create a dialogue so that we can get your input and create a more authentic portrayal of the Choctaw people and culture.’ Because again, also speaking for myself, I’m Navajo, I’m not Choctaw, I don’t speak Choctaw, I’m not Choctaw culture, but that was one of the big things that was important for us was creating a dialogue with the Choctaw Nation and getting their support.” 

Echo is being released on Disney+ and Hulu on January 10th. The show will leave Hulu on April 9th.