The director of photography of Marvel Studios’ Echo commented on whether she thinks Season 2 is in the works for Alaqua Cox’s Maya Lopez.
When Echo was first announced, like most MCU Disney+ shows, it was only assumed to be a single season. Since its five episodes debuted at once on January 10, there has been no word on if a continuation is even in consideration.
Fans don’t even know when the next time they’ll see Maya on screen is.
Disney+ Echo DP on Season 2, Daredevil, & Kingpin
Echo cinematographer Kira Kelly spoke with The Direct in an exclusive interview, sharing her thoughts on a possible Season 2 of Echo and working with the characters from Netflix’s Daredevil.
When asked if she felt Season 2 would be a good choice for Alaqua Cox’s next step as the character, Kelly admitted she was “not sure” and how she’d “love any excuse to see Alaqua [Cox] perform again:”
“I'm not sure about that. I feel like the world—You know, anything that we can see Alaqua [Cox] would be amazing. Whether it's another season for her or whether or not she's in the 'Daredevil' show coming up or any other show. I would just love any excuse to see Alaqua perform again.”
Should Fans Expect Echo Season 2?
Fans probably shouldn’t bank on there being another season for Echo. The show’s reception was generally lukewarm, and after the recent changes at Marvel Studios, the future of its Disney+ projects remains a mystery.
Currently, Loki is the only series to have gotten a second season. If it were to happen to another, Echo probably wouldn’t be at the top of the list. Instead, fans would likely see continuations of Moon Knight, Ms. Marvel, or Hawkeye.
Perhaps Echo can crossover to Daredevil: Born Again when that finally airs.
In a recent article from The Hollywood Reporter, the outlet confirmed that not only has the production finally started back up (with original Daredevil stunt coordinator returning), but Marvel Studios "is interested in doing more with the character and is already developing new ideas as it seeks to build out its street-level heroes."
After all, that’s where Kingpin is headed next, as his time in Echo sent him careening down a dangerous path that will undoubtedly leave him to collide with multiple street-level heroes. It would be a great chance to bring Maya back into the fold to help Matt Murdock and potentially others.
While the status of a hypothetical Season 2 remains unclear, showing up in the upcoming Daredevil: Born Again might be a good next step. After all, the show did help link Maya Lopez to Charlie Cox’s Daredevil and his work.
In discussing his one fight sequence, Kelly reminisced about how “legit” it felt to see Charlie Cox come on set to embody Daredevil:
“We ended up shooting his scene, I think it was right at the end of the first block or the beginning of our third block... like we'd already shot a lot. And I was always a fan of the Netflix show. But it's funny, like, there's a moment when you see him walk on the set in the costume and everything. You're just like, 'Okay, this is legit. We're doing this now.'"
She drove the point home about how it was "awesome to watch him:"
"It was also awesome to watch him because, of course, he had a stunt performer. But, like, he really went out of his way to try to make sure he could do as many of the things and try it and was really physical about having himself play that character, even within the fight scenes. So yeah, that was fun. That whole thing was a really fun experience.”
She elaborated on how difficult the scene was to film, which was only made possible thanks to their “incredible” second unit team:
“I have to mention that with the Daredevil fight that we ended up doing. Like our second unit team was incredible... we went in, and we shot, you know, it's a one-er, but of course there are match quickly hidden edits. You know, it's like we really had to leave a lot for them to be able to, you know, do to, so they just did an amazing job. So yeah, these jobs like this, like without having a second unit, would be crazy.”
On top of Cox’s hero, Vincent D’Onofrio’s villainous Kingpin also took center stage. Kelly confirmed that it was “amazing to watch” the actor embody the character:
“Vincent is very different than Kingpin, obviously. Right?... [He] definitely is. But when he first walks into set, he's very, although he's in the outfit and the suit and all this stuff, he's still like, 'Hey, how's it going... Hi, everybody.' Like, super, super nice, and great with the crew. But then, when it's go time, you hear the voice change, you hear the cadence of his voice change. And it's Kingpin. It's just kind of amazing to watch.”
“It’s just kind of seamless to see him go in and out of that [character],” she continued, also praising Alaqua Cox for going “toe-to-toe” with the legendary actor:
“It's really sort of like, he has lived in that character, I think, for so long in such a great way that it's just kind of seamless to see him go in and out of that [character]... Vincent is an incredible actor. And I think this is like a testament to how great Alaqua [Cox] was, like, they went toe-to-toe in all those like dinner scenes and really sort of like, flushing out their relationship. And it was just mesmerizing. I remember when in the beginning, when we first started shooting it, I was just like, 'Wow, that's a lot of, you know, table seats.' We have to figure out different angles and cool ways to keep it interesting. But then, once you see them actually talking and having these conversations, I just kind of wanted to watch more. It was great to see those and shoot those conversations.”
As for how familiar with the previous Netflix shows she was, she did watch “the first couple of seasons of [Daredevil]:”
“I think I've seen the first couple of seasons of [Daredevil]. But I'm a big, like, not nerd, but yeah, I love comics. I love comic shows. And so 'Daredevil' was, while it was coming out, was something that I watched. And then when Sydney [Freeland] brought up the fact of doing the one-er, we obviously watched that hallway fight they did... which was amazing. And then we watched so many other ones like Atomic Blonde's one-er, which is amazing. There's a great one from 'Hanna'.”
The Direct then asked if, while filming, the cast and crew of the show were worried about the canonicity of the previous Daredevil show with Echo’s focus on Matt Murdock and Kingpin.
The filmmaker admitted that there wasn’t an active mandate on set about the canon status of Daredevil:
“Not really. I mean, we didn't really--there wasn't a, at least, that ever came down to me. There was never a thing of like, the Netflix 'Daredevil' and all that stuff is canon. But maybe afterward [they] ended up working and fitting it in, but that wasn't a focus of our shooting.”
All episodes of Echo are now streaming on Disney+ and Hulu.
