Report: Marvel’s Kevin Feige Considered Echo ‘Unreleasable’ Prior to Reshoots

According to The Hot Mic podcast’s Jeff Sneider, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige considered the upcoming Disney+ series Echo “unreleasable.”

On the podcast, Sneider said that he had heard the series was “plagued by issues” during production, which he described as “a mess.” After shooting eight episodes, Marvel reportedly discussed cutting down the series to four or six episodes but decided to reshoot the series. Finally, Sneider noted that “Kevin was not happy” with it.

What did Kevin Feige think of Echo?

“I heard the show was kind of plagued by issues throughout production,” Sneider stated. “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 eight episodes, and [Kevin Feige] thought it was unreleasable, so they talked about cutting it down to four episodes, or six 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.”

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.