Marvel. Disney. Buds. Can you just pick a date? What is the point of this thing where you announce a release date for a series, then—a few weeks before its release—change it by one day? Is it anything other than a gimmick to get us to cover the show again? If you’re gonna continue with this tiresome gimmick, could you at least provide a decent new teaser, and not just one that recuts the footage from the previous teaser and adds a voiceover telling us about the new release date?
Echo now premieres January 9th, for reasons, I guess.
One thing hasn’t changed: As has been the plan since Echo was originally set for a Thanksgiving release, all five episodes will arrive at once. This new teaser makes a big thing about how you need to set your Disney+ profile to TV-MA in order to stream the series, because it is super violent. That—not Echo (Alaqua Cox) herself, not the steps forward in terms of Native American and Deaf representation (in front of and behind the camera), not the story, not the characters—seems to be the primary selling point here, which is sure a choice.
Everyone involved in making this show seems genuine and talented, which makes it all the more frustrating that it’s presented this way. Executive producer and director Sydney Freeland was a writer and director on Reservation Dogs. The cast also includes an incredible lineup of actors: Zahn McClarnon (Dark Winds, Westworld), Graham Greene (Dances with Wolves), Tantoo Cardinal (Killers of the Flower Moon), and K. Devery Jacobs (Reservation Dogs, American Gods). And, of course, Vincent D’Onofrio as Wilson Fisk.
You can watch Echo on Disney+ and Hulu on January 9th. Unless they move it again.