When Alaqua Cox was cast as the character Maya Lopez in the 2021 limited series “Hawkeye,” she knew she had made history as the first deaf character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. What she didn’t know was that there she’d soon be starring in her own spin-off series, “Echo,” centered on the iconic Indigenous hero’s return to her hometown in Oklahoma. And, in an unexpected twist, was given the news while “Hawkeye” was in production.

Continue reading ‘Echo’: Alaqua Cox Says Representing Multiple Minority Communities “Meant The World” at The Playlist.

Following his turns as the evil character in Marvel’s Netflix series, Vincent D’Onofrio is obviously back as Wilson Fisk, aka The Kingpin, in the proper Marvel Cinematic Universe (the Netflix era was previously disconnected from canon). D’Onofrio already re-appeared as the character in the “Hawkeye” Disney+ limited series (2021), and he’s back once again in the “Echo” series, which is streaming now on Disney+ and Hulu (read our review).

Continue reading Vincent D’Onofrio Says ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ May Be A Marvel Spotlight & Will Have The Same Dark Tone As ‘Echo’ at The Playlist.

Marvel’s new limited series, “Echo,” is deeply frustrating, a show with good intentions and poor aim. Ostensibly full of depth but never hitting the bullseye— seemingly about the complicated emotional agonies of families, adopted, found, and betrayed and the burdens of trauma—most of it is told without meaningful resonance. Placing its highest premium on violence and longwinded action—showy sequences that go on for six minutes, but so what?— while it considers much, “Echo” and actually has very little to say about any of it.   

Continue reading ‘Echo’ Review: Marvel’s Latest Is Gritty, Violently Empty & Feels Like A Grim Netflix-Era Cast Off at The Playlist.

January is always an interesting month for television releases. It’s easy to miss some definite highlights as we continue to catch up on the spillover of the best of the previous year. This January is even stranger due to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, which both delayed the return of a particular series and also resulted in what should’ve been last year’s Emmys now taking place this month. Still, plenty of worthwhile titles are making their (often) streaming debut this month.

Continue reading 10 TV Shows To Watch In January: ‘True Detective,’ ‘Master Of The Air,’ ‘Expats’ & More at The Playlist.

While “Deadpool 3” might challenge this notion somewhat—especially depending on its-cameos—when franchises change owners or deals end (see Disney buying Fox), often the past is thrown out, and new creators are tasked with starting over. We’re seeing that now with James Gunn’s DC Studios (that will forgo the previous DCEU), we’re seeing it mostly with all the 20th Century Fox Marvel properties that Marvel Studios/Disney will take in a totally new direction (“The Fantastic Four,” “The X-Men”).

Continue reading ‘Echo’: Vincent D’Onfrorio Talks The Evolution of The Kingpin From Netflix To Marvel’s Dark Disney+ Series at The Playlist.

The first striking element you might notice about Marvel’s new Disney+ crime series, “Echo,” is that it’s darker, grittier, more mature, and has a TV-MA rating (Mature Audience Only. Intended for adults and may be unsuitable for children under 17). That’s a first for Marvel (and an R-rated “Deadpool 3” is coming in the summer of 2024, signaling more to come), but to hear it from the filmmakers, the contents of the show and the character’s dark past led to the rating, not the other way around

READ MORE: The 70 Most Anticipated TV Shows & Series Of 2024

“It’s our first TV-MA show, but we didn’t set out to make a TV-MA show,” executive producer Brad Winderbaum said in a recent “Echo” press conference.

Continue reading ‘Echo’ Filmmakers Say A Mature TV-MA Rating Wasn’t Intended: “Following The Character Created The Gritty Tone” at The Playlist.

Honestly, it feels as if “Echo” isn’t getting as much marketing love as Marvel Studios projects typically do. Perhaps that’s because the series marks the first TV-MA project for the studio and is part of the Marvel Spotlight banner, which makes it not as dependent on MCU continuity. Regardless, there’s something different happening with “Echo,” and that extends to the content in the series as well, which is supposedly going to be more brutal than the typical Marvel story.

Continue reading ‘Echo’ Director Says Marvel’s Series Fully Embraces The Violence But She’s Most Proud Of The “Emotional” Aspect at The Playlist.

Here is our Most Anticipated TV Shows & Mini-Series of 2024 (The Strike-Affected Edition!) feature. 2023’s WGA/SAG-AFTRA/AMPTP strikes were essentially the COVID-19 of 2020. While thankfully, they weren’t as physically deadly, the work stoppage did significantly affect many people in the business and their financial stability. What ties them both together more closely is the disruption of content and product. With streamers already cutting back, regressing on the streaming boom thanks to Wall Street’s reevaluation of their worth, and the strikes delaying a lot of shows for an entire year, the #AgeOfTooMuchContent might officially be coming to a close.

Continue reading The 70 Most Anticipated TV Shows & Mini-Series Of 2024 at The Playlist.

2023 has not been a great year for Marvel Studios. That’s a bit wild to say considering the studio has released at least one film, “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” that earned nearly $850 million, and “Loki” Season 2 seems to be another streaming hit. But the truth is, the quality of Marvel Studios projects has seemingly gone down significantly, with critics and fans both noticing a decline.

Continue reading Marvel Spotlight: ‘Echo’ Is First Series To Debut Under New Continuity-Free Banner at The Playlist.

Next January, no bad good will go unpunished when Marvel Studios‘ latest Disney+ series “Echo” premieres. Subscribers to the streamer will already be available with Alaqua Fox‘s antiheroine from the 2021 series “Hawkeye.” But “Echo” is a standalone series for Lopez, seeing Echo take center stage as she squares off against Vincert D’Onofrio‘s Wilson Fisk, aka: Kingpin.

Continue reading ‘Echo’ Trailer: Marvel Studios’ Next Disney+ Series Premieres On January 10, 2024 at The Playlist.

You’re sick of hearing of the WGA writer’s strike and the SAG actor’s strike, surely. But the reality is they keep messing with everything. And while they are not the exact culprit here—the writing has been on the wall for Marvel’s Disney+ strategy for a while—it’s certainly not helping things when talent aren’t able to promote the films and TV series that they star in, thus giving studios, streamers, and cable channels pause to promote their content while the strike is ongoing.

Continue reading Marvel TV Calendar Shifts: New Dates For ‘Agatha,’ ‘Echo’ & More at The Playlist.

If the debate a few years ago was the streaming glut age created an era of #TooMuchContent, we’ve got some good news for you: things are slowing down and the current SAG and WGA strikes likely aren’t helping. But the streaming age, and the Wall Street downturn that arrived last year have definitely caused a new epoch of disruption we’re still experiencing and aren’t sure where things will land. Warner Bros.

Continue reading Fall 2023 TV Preview: Over 35+ Most Anticipated Shows To Watch at The Playlist.

Finally, a little bit of clarity from Marvel Studios when it comes to their lineup of 2023 shows on Disney+. After a heap of back-and-forth rumblings, it’s been officially announced that following Marvel’s event limited series “Secret Invasion” debuting on the streaming service on June 21, “Loki” and “Echo” are now confirmed for the fall.

READ MORE: ‘Agatha: Coven Of Chaos’: Patti LuPone Spills The Beans On Who She Plays In Marvel’s Upcoming Series

October 6 is the release date for “Loki” season two on Disney+, and instead of trickling out episodes every week with “Echo,” their entire season drops on November 29.

Continue reading Marvel’s ‘Loki’ Season 2 Returns To Disney+ On October 6 & Entire Season Of ‘Echo’ Drops November 29 at The Playlist.

Earlier this month, Disney CEO Bob Iger commented that his company must become “better at curating” content that’s “extraordinarily expensive.” “We want the quality on the screen, but we have to look at what they cost us,” Iger said. What’s that mean? In the case of Disney+, it’s fewer “Stars Wars” and MCU shows.  Kevin Feige confirmed earlier this week that Marvel Studios would begin to slow down its Disney+ content rollout this year, but what does that mean exactly?

Continue reading ‘Echo’ and ‘Ironheart’ Likely Delayed Until 2024 & ‘Nova’ Development Slowed Down As Disney+ Reassesses Its Output at The Playlist.

Two years ago, Bob Iger pointed to the rafters and said, the future of our business is on streaming and Disney+. By then, everyone had a streaming service or one in the works, and it ushered in the age of #TooMuchContent. However, as we know, after the Wall Street Netflix crash of April 2022, which impacted the entire industry as the stock market totally reevaluated the worth of all streaming services, things are changing.

Continue reading The 70 Most Anticipated TV Shows & Mini-Series Of 2023 at The Playlist.

As Marvel‘s Phase 4 introduces more new characters and sets up the MCU‘s future, there are also returns of some old familiar faces. And two of those faces, Charlie Cox‘s Matt Murdoch/Daredevil and Vincent D’Onofrio‘s Wilton Fisk/Kingpin, have already shown up in new Marvel content in the past year. Cox had a brief cameo in “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” while Kingpin showed up as the big bad in “Hawkeye.”

READ MORE: Marvel’s ‘Echo’ Disney+ Series Adds ‘Reservation Dogs’ Actress Devery Jacobs

And now, The Hollywood Reporter reports that both characters will appear in Marvel’s latest Disney+ show, “Echo.” Their casting is the latest move on Marvel’s part to re-integrate characters from their now-defunct Netflix shows that centered on Marvel superheroes.

Continue reading ‘Echo’: Charlie Cox & Vincent D’Onofrio Will Return In Marvel’s Latest Disney+ Show at The Playlist.

Marvel Studios is fleshing out multiple new characters thanks to their shows on Disney+, and with “Moon Knight” coming to an end this week, there are some interesting tidbits about two Marvel characters that were originally planned to show up that ultimately didn’t make the cut.

Head writer and executive producer Jeremey Slater revealed to the House of R podcast (Listen below) that the Marvel Studios series nearly featured “Hawkeye” character Maya Lopez/Echo as a love interest before they ultimately settled on the new character Layla El-Faouly, a surrogate for Marlene Alraune.

Continue reading ‘Moon Knight’: Head Writer Jeremy Slater Says Series Almost Included Echo As Love Interest & Villain Raul Bushman at The Playlist.

Marvel Studios continues to pump out a wave of series (content?) for Disney+, and one of the upcoming series is “Echo,” a “Hawkeye” spin-off show that focuses on the deaf character Maya Lopez, played by newcomer Alaqua Cox. “Echo” is being written and executive produced by Etan Cohen and Emily Cohen, who previously worked on “Hawkeye.”

As filming is underway, Deadline has revealed that Indigenous actress Devery Jacobs (“Reservation Dogs“) has landed the role of Julie.

Continue reading Marvel’s ‘Echo’ Disney+ Series Adds ‘Reservation Dogs’ Actress Devery Jacobs at The Playlist.

Say what you will about “Eternals.” Depending on which side of the discourse you fall on (because, as we know, there are always only two sides), the film is either a nice change of pace for Marvel Studios, showing a more mature, emotional story, or it’s the worst catastrophe in the MCU since “Thor: The Dark World” and Chloe Zhao is clearly a terrible filmmaker.

Continue reading Marvel Studios Formerly Announces ‘Echo’ & ‘Agatha’ Series While Teasing More Live-Action Disney+ Series For 2022 at The Playlist.

In the opening stages of “Echo,” a farmhouse burns brilliantly against the beautifully bruised sky of Iceland at dusk. It’s a striking image that recalls the climax of Andrei Tarkovksy’s “The Sacrifice,” a moment consumed with despair, madness, and transformation as part of a bargain with God. However, in the new film by Rúnar Rúnarsson, the occasion carries no such theological or metaphysical concerns.

Continue reading ‘Echo’ Elegantly Explores Iceland’s Personal & Political Landscape At Christmas [Locarno Review] at The Playlist.

George Clooney’s track record as a director is hit or miss. While he’s an A-lister actor, with numerous hits under his belt, when he steps behind the camera, things are a bit more…dicey. Last year, he released “Suburbicon,” which had all the makings of a great film, but ended up not doing much for audiences and critics. It feels like it’s been an eternity since 2002’s “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind” put him on the map as a filmmaker to keep an eye on.

Continue reading George Clooney To Direct Sci-Fi Film ‘Echo’ From The Producers Of ‘Arrival’ And ‘Stranger Things’ at The Playlist.

Michael Bay Says He Wants To Make A Movie About African Elephants Plus More Director News

Continue reading Michael Bay Says He Wants To Make A Movie About African Elephants Plus More Director News at The Playlist.