Jeremy Renner’s Clint Barton and Hailee Steinfeld’s Kate Bishop may have been the stars of Hawkeye, but Alaqua Cox’s Maya Lopez, a.k.a Echo, got quite a bit of time to shine on the Disney+ show. And good news for fans of the character, her story isn’t over, as an Echo spinoff series is on the way, and it’ll bring Charlie Cox’s Daredevil back following his time on She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. However, Disney+ subscribers will now have to wait longer than expected for Echo’s arrival.
Echo was first reported to be in development in March 2021, and then by the following November, shortly before Hawkeye premiered, Marvel Studios officially announced the series. At this past summer’s San Diego Comic-Con, Echo was slated in the Phase 5 lineup for mid-2023 drop, but while appearing on The Writers Panel podcast, showrunner Marion Dayre informed host Ben Blacker that the show now likely won’t come out until next December. In her words:
That will be probably a year from when this comes out.
Prior to asking about when Echo will premiere, Ben Blacker mentioned to Marion Dayre and the other guests that this latest episode of The Writers Panel would be released a week or two after the recording, and it ultimately came out on Tuesday, December 13. So with the way things are going now, Echo won’t reach our eyeballs until December 2023, meaning it will have been two years since we met Maya Lopez in the MCU and a little under a year and a half since Matt Murdock popped by Jennifer Walters’ corner of the franchise. Dayre didn’t share why Echo will come out later than expected, but it’s rumored that the series has been dealing with production issues.
Naturally Echo’s chief purpose is for Maya Lopez to take center stage, with the show’s synopsis revealing that she’ll return to her hometown in Oklahoma to come to terms with her past, reconnect with her Native American roots and embrace her family and community. That said, Echo is also giving MCU fans more time to spend with Daredevil, with Matt Murdock’s search for a former ally bringing him into Maya’s sphere. Additionally, Echo will bring back Vincent D’Onofrio’s Wilson Fisk, a.k.a. Kingpin, Maya’s adoptive uncle who orchestrated having Clint Barton kill Maya’s father during his Ronin days. When we last saw Maya and Kingpin together in the Hawkeye finale, the former shot the latter, and Echo footage shown at D23 revealed that D’Onofrio’s character is now wearing an eyepatch over one of his eyes.
So it’ll be another year before Echo, Daredevil and Kingpin get the MCU spotlight again, but let’s not forget that the latter two will be back on our screens again not too long after. Daredevil: Born Again is still set for an early 2024 premiere on Disney+, with the first season consisting of 18 episodes, and Matt Corman and Chris Ord attached as the head writers and executive producers. At the beginning of the month, The Many Saints of Newark’s Michael Gandolfini was added to Born Again’s cast, and days later Margarita Levieva and Sandrine Holt were reported to appear in the show.
Good things come to those who wait, so Daredevil fans will need to be patient for the one-two punch of Echo and Daredevil: Born Again to arrive. Fortunately, there are plenty of upcoming Marvel TV shows and upcoming Marvel movies on the way before then, and you can always rewatch the original Daredevil series on Disney+ in the meantime.
