Posted in: Disney+, Hulu, Marvel, TV | Tagged: Alaqua Cox, charlie cox, daredevil, disney, Echo, hulu, Marvel Studios, matt murdock, maya lopez, vincent d'onofrio

Echo Director Discusses Daredevil Fight Molding Maya's "Killer" Nature

Echo director Sydney Freeland discusses Maya Lopez/Echo's fight with Matt Murdock/Daredevil influencing her turn into a "stone-cold killer."

Echo is arguably the most anticipated Marvel TV series in the Disney+ era, not just because of bold decisions like having the MCU's first Native American lead or its first physically challenged one, but as the first TV-MA Marvel Studios-produced project of its kind on the platform. While the former Netflix Defenders shows like Daredevil certainly laid the groundwork, they were distinctly separate as Marvel Studios was still staunchly PG-13/TV-14. Even when the Netflix shows landed on Disney+ instead as a Hulu-exclusive and Marvel's assurances that Deadpool 3 will remain R-rated, fans remained skeptical until it was revealed that the Hawkeye spinoff will be specifically targeted for mature audiences. The first bold steps in reintegrating the Defenders characters was the reintroduction of Charlie Cox's Matt Murdock/Daredevil in 2021's Spider-Man: No Way Home and later, in the comedic She-Hulk: Attorney at Law and Vincent D'Onofrio's Wilson Fisk/Kingpin in Hawkeye. Both stars return in Echo before their upcoming Disney+ series Daredevil: Born Again – and Echo director Sydney Freeland is teasing how the fight between Echo/Maya Lopez (Alaqua Cox) and Daredevil will help mold her character.

Echo: How Maya Lopez & Daredevil's Fight Shapes Her

"I think everything stems from the story and the script and the unique specific circumstances of our show. In reading that scene, the thing I loved about it was that before we even shot anything, on the page Maya Lopez enters that scene as a teenage girl, and she leaves it as a cold-blooded killer," Freeland told Screen Rant. "I wanted the audience to be able to see that transformation happen in real-time and try to put them in her shoes and experience things, in some cases literally as she perceives them. I don't want to spoil it, but after you see the scene, you'll understand what I mean by that, and so that lent itself to us shooting it as it [was]. We knew it was ambitious going in, especially on a TV schedule, but we wanted to take that swing."

Alaqua Cox made her MCU debut in Hawkeye as the primary henchwoman of the Tracksuit Mafia, who was in pursuit of the Ronin (Jeremy Renner), the persona Clint Barton took on after his family disappeared in the Blip. Temporally shedding his Hawkeye moniker, the Ronin becomes a one-man army against organized crime before rejoining the Avengers thanks to the effort of his long-time S.H.I.E.L.D. partner Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlet Johansson) in Avengers: Endgame (2019).

Clint spots his former suit after an auction-gone-awry ends up in the hands of Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld), who became an expert markswoman following in the footsteps of her favorite Avenger. While in full pursuit, Maya slowly discovers the truth about the nature of her surrogate father, Fisk, who trained her at a young age to be as hardened and ruthless as he is, doing his nefarious bidding. The conclusion of Hawkeye saw Maya turning on Kingpin, shooting him point blank following their scuffle. In Echo, we see Maya on the run, fleeing to her hometown in Oklahoma to make amends with her dark past and reconnecting with her Native American roots.

For more, you can check out the entire interview here. The miniseries also stars Chaske Spencer, Tantoo Cardinal, Devery Jacobs, Zahn McClarnon, Cody Lightning, and Graham Greene, and premieres on Disney+ and Hulu on January 9th.

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