Disney recently announced the release date for its upcoming Disney+ series Echo, and according to a recent report, the series was seen as “unreleasable” for some time prior to reshoots by Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige.
In the latest episode of The Hot Mic Podcast, Above the Line’s Jeff Sneider notes that sources close to him spoke about the many issues that Echo faced. According to Sneider, the series was “plagued by issues” during its production, with Marvel Studios boss Feige not being happy with things at all.
“I heard the show was kind of plagued by issues throughout production,” said Sneider. “I heard that it was a mess, and that the show came in so bad that they basically had to reshoot the entire thing. I’m told that they originally shot 8 episodes, and [Kevin Feige] thought it was unreleasable, so they talked about cutting it down to 4 episodes, or 6 in post. But then they ended up reshooting it, so my source did not actually know how many episodes they wound up with. But yeah, apparently it needed a top-down rejiggering, and that Kevin was not happy with it.”
The reshoots report comes after the surprise announcement that Disney+ would be releasing all of Echo’s episodes at once when the series premieres on November 29, 2023. This is usually not how Disney+ operates, leading many to wonder if the show wasn’t being viewed favorably.
What is Echo about?
Echo will feature the return of Alaqua Cox as she reprises her role as Maya Lopez after debuting in last year’s Hawkeye, where it was revealed Maya had a long history with Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin. Joining D’Onofrio are Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock/Daredevil, Zahn McClarnon (Fargo), Devery Jacobs (Reservation Dogs), Cody Lightning, Chaske Spencer, Tantoo Cardinal, and Graham Greene.
In the Marvel comics, Echo — the adoptive daughter of the Kingpin — is a deaf Native American woman who possesses the ability to perfectly copy other people’s movements while also being a highly capable martial artist and acrobat.
Marion Dayre is the lead writer for the Hawkeye spin-off. The writers’ room also includes Bobby Wilson, Rebecca Roanhorse, Shoshannah Stern, Josh Feldman, Kaitlyn Jeffers, Steven Paul Judd, Jason Gavin, Ken Kristensen, Dara Resnik, and Jessica Mecklenburg.
