"Echo" brings Hollywood to the Choctaw Nation

Jan. 6—"You represent your people. That means a Choctaw Tvshka," said the character played by Academy Award nominee Graham Greene in the opening line in a trailer released this week for Marvel Studios' "Echo" that features the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.

The five-episode series premiers on both Disney+ and Hulu on Jan. 9 and spotlights Maya Lopez as she is pursued by Wilson Fisk's criminal empire. When the journey brings her home to Oklahoma, she must confront her own family and legacy. Maya in the series is a member of the Choctaw Nation.

"The gritty, grounded, five-episode series is a self-contained story that follows Maya's pursuit of power and revenge. But at the heart of the action-packed series is a burgeoning antihero with roots in the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma," as described by Marvel.

Seth Fairchild, the executive director of Cultural Services for the Choctaw Nation, said in a December press conference the show's director Sydney Freeland came to the tribe's Cultural Center in Durant two years ago and approached the tribe about featuring the tribe in the series.

"Representation wasn't something that was if, it was something that was always a necessity," Freeland said. "One of the things that was important for us was being able to engage with the Choctaw Nation very early on. I remember we came to y'all at the Choctaw Center and really for myself it was two things. One was to ask permission from the Choctaw Nation to be portrayed."

Freeland said it was important to get the tribe's permission because she wanted to be authentic in portraying the southeast Oklahoma tribe's culture.

"I think a lot of times people jumble all Native American tribes and cultures into this one big kind of monolith and that's not the case," Freeland said. "I'm Navajo, and we're telling a Choctaw story, so for me, it was an absolute necessity that we engaged the Choctaw Nation to tell that story."

The first two episodes of "Echo" were shown during a world premiere event held at the Cultural Center in November. Fairchild said tribal members who have viewed the preview said the series was respectful to the nation and "tells a beautiful story."

"I can not wait for people to see the series," Fairchild said. "Those people who grew up in Oklahoma or Indian Country, there will be so many things they will recognize throughout the series that aren't even main focal points but the effort to tell an authentic story was from top to bottom."

The cast for "Echo" features several Native Americans with Maya Lopez played by Alaqua Cox ("Hawkeye") along with characters portrayed by Chaske Spencer ("The English"), Graham Greene ("1883," "Dances with Wolves"), Tantoo Cardinal ("Killers of the Flower Moon"), Devery Jacobs ("Reservation Dogs"), Zahn McClarnon ("Dark Winds," "Reservation Dogs"), and Cody Lightning ("Four Sheets to the Wind.")

All five episodes of "Echo" will be released on Disney+ and Hulu Jan. 9 and are rated TV-MA. Each episode will be dubbed in the Choctaw language.