Reconnect & rediscover: Native actor Alaqua Cox finds similarities with character in 'Echo'

Alaqua Cox was in familiar territory when she began production of Marvel Studios’ “Echo.”

The Indigenous actor had already been on-screen in the TV series “Hawkeye,” where Maya Lopez/Echo got introduced to the world.

Gallup native Sydney Freeland is at the helm of the pilot episode, as well as a producer on the series.

She was intrigued because Lopez is Marvel’s first Native character to be spotlighted in their own series.

“I also say character because Echo is the villain,” Freeland says. “That was actually one of the things that was most interesting. I was like, ‘Oh, wow, this isn’t like Captain America.’ Echo works for Kingpin, aka Wilson Fisk. For me, that was most interesting, right?”

Beginning on Tuesday, Jan. 9, viewers will dive into Lopez’s world when “Echo” streams on Disney+ and Hulu.

Cox says Lopez is a special character.

Reconnect & rediscover: Native actor Alaqua Cox finds similarities with character in 'Echo'

“Maya is a deaf Indigenous person who has a biological family and an adopted family, and she’s trying to reconnect with her family after finding out that her adopted family, her uncle specifically, betrayed her,” Cox says. “So, she went back to reconnect with her biological family and try to rediscover a more complicated and deep life that she did live, and rediscover family. So, I’m hoping that she can learn, and we can all learn, how she rediscovered family.”

Cox also found many similarities with Lopez’s character.

“We both have childhood trauma,” Cox says. “For example, I grew up, as you know, I am an amputee. So, I went through many different kinds of surgeries as a child. That made me a warrior, in a sense. Maya, she had the death of her mother, and all these tragic events that happened in her life. We both have different traumatic experiences. It kind of makes us very similar in a way because we’re both warriors, and we’re tough.”

In the series, Cox has multiple action scenes and the tone of the series is dark and gritty.

She did prepare for months to film the series.

“Luckily, I grew up playing different kinds of sports as well,” Cox says. “Plus, I do have an older brother who helped me become more of an athlete, because he’s very much an athletic person. We’re about a year and a half apart, so we wrestled growing up. So that toughened me up. When I did get the role, I had a stunt training team. About five days a week, I would go to the training, and it was a lot. I learned so much as well. ’Cause growing up in sports, there wasn’t a lot of stunt specific things in sports, so stunt training was a whole new world to me. And I was able to learn choreography, jabs, fights, and those specific moves, and that was so fun, and very challenging as well. But that was the greatest part of the project. So, it was a fun journey for me.”

Freeland says one of her first tasks was to travel to the Choctaw Nation in Oklahoma and present them the film.

“We told them that we have this really cool story and it needs to be different,” Freeland says. “It’s a little bit darker and a little bit mature. We think there’s a really great story behind it and basically asked their permission. Then we sat across the table and there were blank stares looking back at us. I realized, ‘Oh, wow, I don’t know that either one of us has been in the position before.’ We said to them that we weren’t telling them what to do, but we were there to ask permission and create a dialog. We wanted to be authentic to the Choctaw language, culture and tradition. I’m not Choctaw, so we needed that communication.”

Because Cox, who is deaf, would have American Sign Language (ASL) translators on set, Freeland and many of her department heads learned ASL.

“When Alaqua came in, we signed to her,” Freeland says. “She thought it was so kind and accommodating.”

Freeland says because of learning ASL, there was a positive impact – specifically to the visual style.

“We realized that we needed to be able to see the signing and to see the face to get the full emotional context of what’s being portrayed and represented,” Freeland says. “So wider shots became the style for the entire show. Vincent (D’Onofrio) and Cody (Lightning) all got the same treatment for close-ups. It just worked.”

D’Onofrio steps into Kingpin’s shoes again with “Echo.”

It’s a role that he really enjoyed in the comic books and wanted to make his own mark with the villain.

“I’ve just been lucky to get the opportunity, beginning with the Netflix show, with really good writing to bring him forward in a kind of new way, but just my version of what they did in the original comics,” D’Onofrio says. “Now in ‘Echo,’ it’s just more good writing. I think, with ‘Echo,’ is the first time since the Netflix show when I’ve actually felt like we brought Fisk into Maya’s story, but in a way that Fisk is, I think, best portrayed. It’s very similar to the way it was in the original series. And that’s very exciting for me always, because it has a grittier feel to it and it’s a more emotional story with me and Alaqua’s character, Maya.”

D’Onofrio was also impressed by Cox’s work on the series.

“(Alaqua) is so present and, you know, what can I say?” he says. “The girl knows what she’s doing. You know, I was impressed every day, and it was amazing. I felt like we were very fortunate to be able to portray these characters as a father-daughter, or a niece-nephew, however you want to say it, kind of relationship, whereas we’re bringing forward this kind of intensity in their just normal relationship that might have some trepidation in it like real life, like people deal with every day.”