Marvel's 'Echo' screens for the first time where it's set: in Oklahoma's Choctaw Nation

CALERA — Two years after she paid her first visit to the Choctaw Cultural Center to meet with the Choctaw Nation's leaders and culture keepers, Sydney Freeland was back in southeastern Oklahoma Friday to show some of her work.

A director and executive producer on the hotly anticipated Marvel Studios show "Echo," Freeland screened the first two episodes, plus a teaser reel for all five episodes of the streaming series, at a special event in the Choctaw Nation on Friday, which was Choctaw Day.

"Nobody in the world has seen this: You all will be the first audience to see it," Freeland said while introducing the screening at The District at Choctaw Casinos & Resorts in nearby Durant.

"I'm so honored and proud and excited that the first screening of this series is here in Choctaw (Nation)."

Also Friday, Marvel Studios announced that it would be launching "Echo" Jan. 10 on Disney+ and Hulu. Plus, the entertainment juggernaut released Friday the first gritty, hard-hitting "Echo" trailer, including a version with subtitles in the Choctaw language.

"This is a first for Native representation in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but more importantly, it's also an evolution in Marvel, period," Freeland said at a pre-screening reception at the Choctaw Cultural Center in Calera.

"This is going to be Marvel's first MA-rated television show ... and it's going to represent an evolution in how Marvel puts out their television shows. So, we're so excited."

Similar to cinema's R-rating, a TV rating of MA indicates it is for "mature audiences only." The first two action-packed episodes of "Echo" feature enough graphic violence to warrant the MA rating.

All five episodes of "Echo" will start streaming Jan. 10 on both Disney+ and Hulu. They'll be available on Hulu until April 9. "Echo" also marks the first Marvel Studios series to drop all episodes at once for maximum binge-watching.

What is Marvel Studios' 'Echo' about and how does it connect to the Choctaw Nation?

In late 2021, Marvel Studios first introduced the Marvel Comics character of Maya Lopez, aka Echo, played by Native actress Alaqua Cox, who is Menominee and Mohican, in its "Hawkeye" Disney+ streaming series.

Following in the footsteps of her father, William (Zahn McClarnon, the Oklahoma-made "Reservation Dogs," "Dark Winds"), Maya is the fearsome commander of the New York City criminal organization the Tracksuit Mafia, which is revealed to be working for the formidable crime lord Wilson Fisk, aka Kingpin (Vincent D'Onofrio).

In "Echo," D'Onofrio again reprises the role he originated in the pre-Disney+ 2015-2018 Netflix series Marvel's "Daredevil." "Echo" also brings back the Netflix show's star Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock / Daredevil, a blind NYC lawyer who spends his nights fighting crime as a masked vigilante.

"Echo" is being hailed as a major moment not only for Native Americans but also for the disability community: Like the Marvel Comics character she plays, Cox is deaf.

Cox is an amputee, too. This has been incorporated into "Hawkeye" and "Echo," so that the MCU version of Maya also uses a prosthetic leg.

“Echo” reveals that Maya is Choctaw and was initially raised in the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma before a childhood tragedy prompts her father to relocate with her to New York. The upcoming series follows Maya as she is pursued by Kingpin's criminal empire back to her small Oklahoma hometown, where she must confront her own family and legacy.

Along with McClarnon and Cox, “Echo” stars well-known Indigenous actors Graham Greene (“1883,” “Goliath”), Tantoo Cardinal (the Oklahoma-made movie “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “Stumptown”), Devery Jacobs (FX’s “Reservation Dogs,” “American Gods”), Cody Lightning (“Hey, Viktor!,” “Four Sheets to the Wind”) and Tahlequah-born Chaske Spencer (“The English," the Oklahoma-made indie film “Wild Indian")

Freeland split directing duties on "Echo" with fellow Indigenous director Catriona McKenzie, who is Gunaikurnai.

Chief calls Marvel's 'Echo' 'history in the making' for the Choctaw Nation

Although "Echo," like most MCU projects, was filmed primarily in Atlanta, Georgia, the first two episodes are largely set in Maya's rural Oklahoma community.

"This is history in the making. This is the first time that we've actually had Hollywood come to Durant, but also I love this story that shows the tribe, our resiliency, our strength as a people," Choctaw Nation Chief Gary Batton said during the pre-screening reception at the Choctaw Cultural Center.

About 200 people attended the red carpet event and pre-screening reception at the cultural center in Calera and the screening at Durant's Choctaw Casinos & Resorts, which can briefly be seen at the end of the first episode of "Echo."

Along with Freeland, Batton and members of the media, attendees included "Echo" executive producer Richie Palmer; series writer Steven Paul Judd, a Lawton native who is Kiowa and Choctaw; and other Choctaw Nation tribal members.

"This story is going to be something I hope you're extremely proud of. ... To highlight a Native American woman who is so strong-willed, that is our matrilineal society as Choctaw people," Batton said, referring to the tribe's heritage of determining kinship through the mother's line.

Freeland, who previously worked in Oklahoma on the acclaimed Hulu streaming series "Reservation Dogs," told The Oklahoman on the red carpet that working with the Choctaw Nation on "Echo" "wasn't a maybe; it was a must."

"Once we learned that we were portraying the character who was Choctaw, the first thing that we wanted to do was engage them. I'm Navajo; I'm not Choctaw. So, it was extremely important to me that we get the input and collaboration and dialogue created with the people with this lived experience," said Freeland, whose credits also include the acclaimed 2014 indie film "Drunktown's Finest" and the upcoming Netflix movie "Rez Ball," which she co-wrote with Oklahoma filmmaker and "Reservation Dogs" showrunner Sterlin Harjo.

"We were actually here almost two years (ago) to the day, to meet them and talk through what we ... wanted to do with the show."

'Echo' comes to Oklahoma's Choctaw Nation ahead of one of the country's largest powwows

The first two episodes of "Echo" include references to the tribe's origin story as well as meaningful traditions like stickball. The show also includes frequent use of the Choctaw language as well as American Sign Language.

"One of the things that I remember talking about when I first got here was saying, 'We're not here to tell you what we're going to do. We're here to create a dialogue, specifically because we want your input. We want you to tell us, like, "Hey, this is off limits. If you look at it from this perspective, you might need to correct yourself,"'" Freeland said.

"So, it's incredibly important to be right here, right now, with this first screening."

The "Echo" events brought extra excitement to the Oklahoma tribe's annual Choctaw Day.

"It's a day where we try to focus on our community members and what it means to be Choctaw," said Yasmine Myers, Choctaw Nation cultural education coordinator.

Along with the "Echo" red carpet and reception, Choctaw Day activities at the cultural center Friday included hymn singing, a stickball demonstration, traditional games, social dancing and artisan and cultural demonstrations.

Also on Friday, the tribe kicked off the annual Choctaw Powwow, one of the nation’s largest powwows, which continues through Sunday at the Choctaw Event Center in Durant.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Marvel premieres upcoming series 'Echo' in Oklahoma's Choctaw Nation