Alaqua Cox interview: ‘Echo’
“It feels empowering,” admits Alaqua Cox about leading big-budget action drama “Echo” as Maya Lopez (a.k.a. Echo), a deaf amputee Native American in Marvel’s limited series “Echo,” which is currently streaming on Disney +. For our recent webchat she adds, “it’s a lot of pressure, but at the same time I feel empowered. I’m able to invite more diversity and inclusivity into this industry with this platform.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.
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In “Echo,” Cox stars as Maya Lopez, reprising her role from “Hawkeye” as a deaf Native American Choctaw woman and former leader of a criminal gang working for Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio, who also returns as the criminal kingpin). The five-episode limited series also stars Chaske Spencer, Tantoo Cardinal, Charlie Cox, Devery Jacobs, Zahn McClarnon, Cody Lightning and Oscar nominee Graham Greene. The action drama takes place five months after the events of “Hawkeye,” as Maya is being pursued by Fisk’s mob, leading her to return to her Oklahoma hometown, where she comes to terms with her past, her family and her Choctaw roots. “Echo” is based on the Marvel Comics featuring the character of the same name and is a spin-off of the 2021 dramedy “Hawkeye,” starring Jeremy Renner (who also reprises his role as Hawkeye in a brief stint in “Echo”). It is the tenth television series in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), sharing continuity with the films of the franchise and is the first series under the “Marvel Spotlight” banner for series that focus more on character-driven stories and less on the larger MCU narrative.
“The highlight of playing Maya is getting to work with all the Indigenous cast and using ASL the entirety of the show. It felt like I was home,” Cox says about her first starring role on television. “It’s a lot of pressure, of course, that I’m feeling because I have a lot of communities to represent and advocate for, so it’s a lot. And all of them are very underrepresented. So we need more representation on these kinds of big platforms to uplift our voices and tell our authentic stories,” she says. Looking forward to where Echo may end up in the grand scheme of things, Cox is optimistic that this may not be the last we see of her. “I hope she is able to cross paths with other superheroes! Maybe the Avengers or maybe Daredevil. We’ll just have to see what happens next,” she smiles.
