02x05 - The Making of Echo

[bunniefuu]

RICHIE PALMER: Echo is a character
we've been excited about

for a long time in Marvel Studios.

It just felt like the right time
to introduce a new corner of the universe.

STEPHEN BROUSSARD: In the comics,

this character was first introduced
in the world of Daredevil,

dealing with Matt Murdock
and with Kingpin,

and that kind of street-level crime.

Much more gritty, urban,
as opposed to outer space or Asgard.

That's kind of the space
she had occupied in the comics.

It's the space we meet her in
in the Hawkeye series.

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

From there, there was so much
we could do with the character.

There was so much potential,
many new characters we could introduce.

SYDNEY FREELAND: On Echo,

one of the things that was important to me
was authenticity, you know,

and creating and trying to tell the story
from an authentic standpoint.

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

What we wanted to do from the beginning

is show a world that people
may not be familiar with.

But then open up our arms and say,
"Hey, we're actually not that different."

We tried to do as much in-camera
as possible.

We wanted it to feel like
the most grounded thing in the MCU.

You get introduced
to this Native American world.

Extremely emotional.

FREELAND: In Hawkeye,
Maya Lopez is a villain.

And that was super exciting to me
'cause it wasn't about, like,

we weren't trying to turn her
into Captain America.

We weren't trying to turn her
into this noble person.

Awesome. [CHUCKLES]

FREELAND: It was like,
"Let's embrace those flaws"

and it really created, like,
a full, complicated,

complex narrative and character
that we could build our series on.

BROUSSARD: It's just a really
fascinating character that

flees the events of Hawkeye
and goes back home.

So it's very much like
a prodigal daughter story,

and it's about her going back home
and figuring out who she is.

Is she a criminal mastermind?

Is she going to stay on this path
of being on the wrong side of the law?

Or is she going to reconnect with
a family and a community and a culture?

It's a unique synthesis,

and so we've sort of put
the entire point of view of the series

in the hands of this incredible actress
named Alaqua Cox.

Alaqua is such a presence as Maya Lopez

that when she showed up on Hawkeye,

it was the first thing she's ever done,
and she commanded the screen.

Her presence really just
drew you in on that show.

This character, Maya Lopez,

she's a more obscure character
in the comics that is deaf

and a young Native American woman.

With the Hawkeye series,
we wanted to make sure

that we were looking into the deaf
community to find that actress.

And we're looking
to the Native American culture

to make sure that we can get
a deaf Native American actress.

Now, when you put both of them
together that way,

it's a massive undertaking

to be able to find
the perfect person to play Maya Lopez.

We pored through so many tapes

and Alaqua, who came from Wisconsin,
who is Native American, who's deaf,

was just the perfect person
to play this character.

TRAN: She was Maya Lopez.

FISK: Here she is.

VINCENT D'ONOFRIO: Alaqua's amazing.
She's like a natural.

She handles this
emotional stuff really well

and has this kind of very calm
but intense quality about her.

You know, her body is calm,
her aura is calm.

But it's intense.

Maybe I rip out your throat. Hmm?

[DOOR OPENS]

Or maybe she will.

HAWKEYE: Hey.

KATE: Okay.
You wanna be good cop or bad cop?

- HAWKEYE: What?
- Good cop or bad cop?

You rely too much
on technology apparently.

[LIVELY CHATTER]

DIRECTOR: Okay. Ladies and gentlemen,
thank you for a wonderful day.

Big day. Thank you for everybody.

Great job.

[ALAQUA SIGNING]

[BOTH GRUNTING]

DIRECTOR: Okay, cut.

It's a long, grueling experience
to take the lead,

the number-one on a Marvel show,

in which we're going to further tell
her story and make her a superhero.

That is challenging for even
the most experienced actor.

So, we knew that we had
to put in place a support system

that would best service her
and bring the best out of her,

and really, all of our cast.

CHASKE SPENCER: Zane took the bodies.

Look.

Tonight,

things caught up to us both.

Oh, yeah.

[CHATTERING INDISTINCTLY]

- Okay, cool. All right. Thank you.
- Okay.

CHASKE: With ASL,
at first, I was terrified.

I wanted to look like I know
what I'm doing, but it's been work.

I've lost sleep because
I was so nervous about scenes.

I'm not even joking.

Trying to get your mouth and hands
to move at the same time,

I've learned that I talk faster
than I move my hands.

So for me, it's to take it down a notch
and also make it believable

and also have the emotions
going when we're acting.

I gotta say
Alaqua has been amazing at that.

and you didn't see her,

you will break her heart.

[CHATTERING INDISTINCTLY]

CATRIONA McKENZIE:
When it comes to ASL, it's very kinetic.

All expressed through face and hands,
and I love that.

It was like poetry.

FREELAND: In being able to study ASL
and take lessons,

one of the things that became apparent
is that the hands are an extension

of one's emotion and one's expression.

Anyone from the deaf community or ASL
community can completely override me.

It's not my lived experience,
but the, um...

My interpretation was that
it's like the hands are the text

and the face is the subtext, right?

So you really need
those two things together

to be able to get an idea
of what a person's feeling.

We built our entire visual language
with that in mind.

So, for example,
a close-up on our show is this.

Specifically so we can see Maya's face
but we can also see her hands sign.

So, across the board, our visual language

is trying to cater to this way
of existing in the world.

PALMER: Authenticity is key.

We weren't doing anything inauthentic.
It was really amazing.

We couldn't have done any of that
without the Choctaw Nation.

FREELAND: Welcome, everyone,
to day one of the production.

For those of you who don't know,

myself personally, I am Navajo
from the Navajo Reservation, New Mexico,

and I grew up with this idea of

whenever you're starting
or ending something,

just acknowledging the people
and the place where you're at,

and in this case,
we are portraying the Choctaw people.

And we have a delegation
from the Choctaw Nation

who has come out to do
a blessing for our production,

to tell the best story that we can tell.

Thank you for this opportunity
that you've had.

Seth will lead you
in a Choctaw walk dance.

What you do is just line up behind him.

[MAN CHANTING]

In the beginning of this chant,
you will hear,

"I'm starting to go.
I'm getting ready to go."

[MAN CONTINUES CHANTING]

Towards the mid of the chant,
you'll hear, "I am going."

[MAN CONTINUES CHANTING]

And at the end of the chant,
you'll hear, "I have arrived."

[MAN CONTINUES CHANTING]

So this morning, we thank you
that you're participating with us

in this traditional walk dance
that usually commemorates

the beginning or the end of an event
that is meaningful.

CHRISTINA D. KING:
In working with a writers' room

that was full of
wonderful Indigenous talent,

- some of them were Choctaw.
- [SPEAKS CHOCTAW]

KING: So, we reached out
to the Choctaw Nation,

told them about what we were doing,

and started having
informal creative meetings together.

When we went in, one of the things that's
very important for me was to say, like,

"Hey, guys, we're not coming in
to tell you what we're going to do.

"We're coming in
with the outline of a story,

"and we want to create a dialogue.

"We want your input on this culture
and we want your input

"on how we portray this character.

"So we can hopefully do it
in a more authentic manner."

And so I think, initially,
they were kind of taken aback, too.

The Choctaws were like, "What is this?
What's your agenda?"

And we basically kind of said,

well, our agenda is we want to tell
the best possible story.

[CHATTERING INDISTINCTLY]

McKENZIE: In the history
of telling Indigenous stories,

if the stories have been originated
outside of the community,

then there's always
a different perspective.

That's one of the things
about this series that was so exciting

is it's coming from within the community.

When approached with this role,
getting the chance to read the scripts,

it made total sense that Echo
would revolve so much around community

because, as Indigenous people,
a huge reason why we've been so resilient

is because we've leaned on each other
and leaned on that sense of community,

and that's exactly what
we're doing in the world of Echo.

Hey, hey.

Are you okay?

Like, she's not a Captain Rogers,
where it's this one person

and he is the person
who can save everybody.

It's her leaning on her family
and reconnecting with who she is.

So for me, that was something
that really was a marker of,

"Oh, we're telling
a Native superhero story."

The partnership with the Choctaw,
they were integral in helping us prepare,

in helping us sh**t the show
as we go here,

advising us all along the way,
in every respect.

For our community and artists,
that's a real Choctaw item.

TAMEZ: I love that. Love that.

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

Does my hand need to stay down?

- No.
- Okay, so I'll just do that.

- Is that okay?
- Yeah.

[GRUNTING IN FRUSTRATION]

Kapucha was a prime example
of the positive consequences

of working with Choctaw Nation.

Everything from, like,
the costumes of the stickball players,

to the type of sticks
the stickball players were using,

and then that led to more conversations
of, "Okay, they're playing the Cherokees."

So the Cherokees have their own type
of sticks, their own type of costume,

their own type of hair,
own type of makeup.

And we're able to build something

that is very, um, culturally specific
and feels lived in.

[ALL GRUNTING]

The ishtaboli set is so exciting.

It was just breathtaking to be a part of.
You really felt like you were in there

in the middle of a real
stickball game in 1099 A.D.

This wasn't just 100 background extras
that we got... [CHUCKLES] in Atlanta.

These were real stickball players
from all over the country,

and for the real stickball players
to remark on how authentic everything was,

it's just, you know,
that's the sweet stuff, man.

[ALL CHEERING]

We're standing at the periphery
of our stickball court

which is the centerpiece
of our traditional pre-Columbian

Native American village
that we've created.

There's no, you know,
hard and fast documentation

of what this village would have
looked like a thousand years ago.

So all of this based on
the handed-down oral traditions.

We've flanked it with these, what...
We call them long houses or team houses.

Likely would have been
cypress trees that they stripped down

and used as a sort of primary
wooden element of the structure,

uh, covered with
a sort of mud-based plaster.

And then, the roof, obviously,
is a sort of thatching.

Basically, we were able to get as close

as we possibly could
to what it would have been.

[WHOOPING]

CODY LIGHTNING: To have
our ancestors' ceremonies incorporated

and to have it be portrayed in a good way

is so refreshing to see.

And also to actually have
this many Indigenous people

involved in the project is amazing.

A big thing
in the film and television industry

is non-Indigenous people
playing Indigenous people

when, you know, we were really
struggling for years to find work.

So, to have a project this big
to fill all those slots with our people,

it's beautiful.
It's been a long time coming.

[WIND CHIMES CLINKING]

[GASPS]

PALMER: Kingpin is
one of our favorite characters

and Vincent D'Onofrio,
he's such a nice guy.

He's nothing like the character
that he portrays,

and it's so much fun to watch him
transform into that guy,

because he is as bad as they come.

And when Vincent walks onto set,
it is like Kingpin walked in the room.

FREELAND: Vincent knows this character
better than any of us ever will.

He's got such a deep understanding
of who Kingpin is.

I... I offered you everything.

Everything I built.

My legacy.

You threw it in my face.

Early on, I'm allowed into the meetings
when it comes to the development,

and I get access to the writers
and the directors

and just everybody creatively involved,

and that's a great thing to experience.

But she's there and I want to look at her

- because that's what you do.
- Okay.

But they need to be able
to see each other.

Vincent brings a humanity
to this character.

[CHUCKLES]

The bad guy always thinks
they're doing the right thing.

Like, you can see that
with Vincent's performance,

his interpretation of Kingpin.

Like, you can see why Vincent would go
and b*at up an ice cream vendor,

why Vincent would do the things he does.

It was so crystal clear.

I can't remember a time

when I haven't loved you like a daughter.

It's this unhealthy
father-daughter dynamic,

but it's also so interesting
and I can't look away.

And part of you wants them
to kind of succeed, you know.

And there you were,

as broken as I was.

I just wanted to wrap you up
and protect you from the pain.

FREELAND: He loves Maya.

You know, that was always something
that from our first rehearsal I mentioned,

is that, "Listen, no matter what happens,
Kingpin loves Maya,

"and Maya loves Kingpin."

I was there. I was there for you!

Not your so-called "family."

The difference being that Kingpin
may not have the tools

to be able to express that
in a positive way.

Free yourself.

Free me!

Doesn't mean he doesn't care for her.

And the same way Maya has been through
a ton of traumatic events,

that doesn't change the fact that

she has a true love and affinity
and care for her uncle.

And those are the things that
you really need to lean into

to make it, you know, human.

If you feel half of what I felt for him,

then I've become what I hate.

Vincent and Alaqua, their dynamic

really helps us on-screen as well
because they could not really be

more polar opposites,

from their background to their
acting experience, everything like that.

But they're both so authentic

and have put so much time and attention

into their characters in the show
and their work.

There's almost a playfulness
between the two of them

that I think is really helpful
when you look at Maya and Kingpin

because it is that cat-and-mouse chase

where you never know who's going to maybe
come out on top after an interaction.

What happened to the Lafite?

And, in many ways, they can both
keep each other on their toes,

which is very true to those characters.

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

- Can we run lines?
- DIRECTOR: Yeah.

Let's do a rehearsal. Here we go.
While we're doing the lights.

Quiet, everybody. Hold the work.

They're working quietly.

The big dialogue scenes
that I've done with Alaqua,

those will stick in my memory
because there's a superhero aspect to it,

but mainly
it's about a father and a daughter.

To play both of those
things simultaneously,

I've definitely never done that before,
so it's quite unique.

DIRECTOR: Cut!

Well, that's the extent of my talent.
That's it.

We knew that we really wanted for him
to feel like Kingpin

and for the overall look
to look very Kingpin.

And one thing that
was really important that we noticed

was the collars of his shirts

are not your typical size collar
of a men's dress shirt.

They're much wider, like, two inches.

And so, we knew we wanted to do that
to really frame his face,

and make him look powerful.

And just the suits...
The sharpness of the suits.

The most technical part of it
was just making sure

that the suits looked like
he was kind of bursting out of them.

You put that muscle suit on
and then the clothes go on top of it.

So, the actor literally has
a whole another layer on top of them.

And it was important
for Kingpin to have that.

It just makes everything bigger.

Your arms bigger, your shoulders bigger.

It would give that effect
of that imposing nature that Kingpin has.

Come on, let it out. [CHUCKLES]

WOMAN: I don't know
what you're talking about.

[WATER DRIPPING]

Standing on the bottom step.

So, there's one more step down
at the bottom, up one,

and I grabbed...

You can grab on the underside
of the step to your right.

When we sh*t that Dawn of Time sequence,
everything is happening in-camera

down to our actors,
who are in full clay makeup,

going down into the puddle of water,

and coming out in the fields.

And it's so amazing to see
that we got to do all of that in-camera.

MAN 1: Rolling, everybody.

- Rolling.
- WOMAN: Rolling! Rolling, rolling!

MAN 2: Rolling.

Our Dawn of Time was a daunting task
for a number of reasons.

MAN: Camera! And action, Julia.

TRUJILLO: Maybe the greatest of which
is that, for the first time ever,

to my knowledge,

on screen, we are representing
this sacred creation story.

And we didn't want to get,
like, incredibly specific,

for reasons of, you know,
respecting the culture.

But with the Choctaws' blessing
and with their guidance,

we created something that left
a little bit of room for interpretation.

It was a little bit more impressionistic.

But also, on a technical level,

it was a very challenging set.

We're fortunate enough to have
an incredible sculpture department here.

So, we did all these beautiful
carved columns and floor,

and there was a very elaborate
water element,

where we have all of these
characters emerging.

But I think we created something
that we're all proud of,

and, most importantly,

something that the Choctaw people
felt really comfortable with,

and felt like did
a respectful job of representing,

for the first time on screen,
their creation myth.

MAN: All right. Here we go. Reset.

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

MAN: 9th Street, Ana.
Here we go. Lock it up.

The show takes place in Tamaha, Oklahoma,

and there was no better place
to tell the story,

because it was real. It was authentic.

I think the overall feel of the show
is very naturalistic,

and I think that sh**ting on location
is essential to that.

[CHATTERING INDISTINCTLY]

Yeah. I think it's just one word.

Yeah. Just take it off.

And I won't have her walk
all the way to the door.

And freeze there.

TRUJILLO: I think true of the entire show,

all of our intentions was always that,

you know, no matter which way
you turn the camera, you're in Tamaha.

We knew that the skating rink was gonna be
central to quite a bit of our storylines.

We needed to find something
really special.

We scoured many different skating rinks,
and we landed on this one in Griffin.

And we knew right away
that there was something special about it.

It had a real life to it,
all this great color.

And there were all these beautiful murals
surrounding the rink.

And essentially, we decided
that we were going to lean into the bones

of what was there,
and then to just make it our own.

Bring in all of these really fun touches

of playful Native American culture,

and add them into the murals.

One of the funny serendipitous things was,
in the script,

there was a scripted mural
in the skating rink

that said "Make America Skate Again,"

and, shockingly, to all of us,

that mural existed in this skating rink.

So, as soon as we saw that we were like,
"This feels like where we're meant to be."

MARC SCIZAK:
We got a lot of prep with her this time.

We had her in a couple months before,

knowing that these shows get impossible,

just with the work schedule.

Impossible to get the actress
during the the actual sh**t.

WOMAN: Instead of a big stomp
that we were doing before,

we're just... Like a painful step.

SCIZAK: So, we did as much
of the base work as we could.

And she really was dedicated.

She also is...

She's really tough, like,
she does not like to be babied at all.

So, she really wanted
to get down and dirty.

She wanted to do more.

I mean, it was us holding her back,
[CHUCKLES]

saying, "Look, this is a long season,
you know?

"Like, I can't have you

"hurting yourself or taking yourself out
in the beginning of this."

MAN: Do me a favor?

Clockwork turn all the way around.

So we can see...
This is the most important thing.

Yeah, great.

So, camera here.

So when you turn...

- Yeah.
- Full body.

Gotcha. Sounds good.

One more?

SCIZAK: In designing the fights,

we wanted to add in, you know,
a little bit of the jujitsu,

a little bit of the tae kwon do,

a little bit
of the other martial art forms

in her, like, brutal fighting style

where she doesn't pull punches.

It's different. Yes, perfect.

SCIZAK: And when she does fight,

it's to basically make
as much mayhem as possible.

[INAUDIBLE]

[GRUNTING]

[GROANS]

PALMER: It's mostly hand to hand combat.

There's cool gags with weapons
that Maya does.

There's a whole fight in the skate rink
where Maya is basically forced to grab

everything around her at the rink
and use them as a w*apon.

And we even see Maya,
whether she knows it or not at the time,

she's channeling
some of the specific moves

and some of the specific strategies
that her ancestors channeled years ago.

SCIZAK: Can she hold the g*n
closer to her body?

MAN: Rolling.

SCIZAK: Good.

That looks amazing.

I know it feels weird,

but it looks good on camera.

Can we try to do that?

Catch in with this lineup for the g*n.

Yes, that looks amazing.

Looks really, really good.

With Alaqua, one leg is prosthetic.
So, it was a lot of fun

to do a little trial and error with that.

She can do bigger blocks with it,

where she doesn't have the pain

that somebody else might, you know, have.

[BOTH GRUNTING]

We had to have Daredevil here,
because Echo, Maya Lopez,

is a character from the Daredevil comics.

How could we have an Echo show
without Daredevil?

Your first time working together.

PALMER: So, we thought about
the best way to do it,

and we figured, "Let's tell
our own version of the comics' story

"in which Maya and Daredevil meet
while Maya Lopez is on a mission

"to prove herself to Kingpin,
to prove herself to the tracksuit mafia,

"that she can roll with them."

She can be just as badass
as any of those guys.

And she proves it by fighting Daredevil.

The way that these characters operate is

as they are in combat with someone,
they're learning about the other person,

they're learning about their training
and their capabilities.

What's interesting
about these two characters

is that, as they're fighting,

they are discovering
that both of them have a disability.

MAN: Here we go. Ready. And action!

[BOTH GRUNTING]

SCIZAK: Daredevil's a little bit
caught off-guard

by her ability to get the upper hand here.

You know, there's a g*nsh*t
that goes off right next to his ear,

which, for anybody, it would be something
that causes a little bit of stress,

but for him, it's even more.

So, they basically try to use
their senses against each other.

[INAUDIBLE]

[HEART b*ating]

PALMER: Sound design on this one
has been amazing.

We want to convey the deaf experience
to hearing audiences the best we can.

We can never fully do that,
but there's moments in the show

where we drop out the sound
or we'll drop out sound effects

and keep score or sometimes,
frankly, we'll drop everything out.

It's quite amazing
to see how it changes a scene,

and you could watch a whole scene
with all the sound,

and it's really awesome.

But when you take the sound out,
you feel like, "Oh, this is Maya's story.

"I get it."

We're trying to help the audience
put themselves in Maya's shoes

as much as possible.

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

TANTOO CARDINAL: From my character's
perspective, it's a revelation for me

to see the powers,
that my own daughter had,

now in my granddaughter.

And so, I created
this whole warrior's outfit for her.

It was very exciting when I saw Alaqua
for the first time.

It was, "Yes, yes! Here she is.

"We've been needing a superhero
for a long, long time,

"and there she is."

LILLAS: We knew we really wanted to
incorporate a lot of the Choctaw symbols.

One of the big things is
their Choctaw diamonds

that they wear on their
traditional dresses.

And we knew that we wanted
to put that in multiple places.

So, that was a main focal point.

Generally, you put this strip on first,
and then you put that in the middle,

and start working with it.

Like, I might work all the way down.

And then when I start over,
I come back down on this side.

- MAN: Okay. Yeah.
- So...

PESHAWN BREAD: When people are
creating beadwork, it takes a lot of time.

When you do beadwork, you have to be
in a state of good intention,

and you have to not put
any negative energy into that work.

Because that's something
that someone will wear.

And that's medicine.
It's something that you carry with you.

It's that energy you carry with you.
It's that prayer.

So, we had to work with their timeline,

and give them enough time
to send us samples.

See the samples, give our notes,

send it back to them,
and then have them do the next round.

But we really worked closely
with the Choctaw to make sure

that they were really proud
of her super suit costume.

The main thing was making sure

that they approved, [CHUCKLES]
above anybody else, really.

- MAN: It's amazing.
- WOMAN: This just blows me away.

All of the symbols
and all the meanings of all the pieces

that go into the costumes
that were being built

was much, much more so than just clothing.

It looks fabulous,
but that story that it's telling

is stronger than any superhero power

that we ever get to portray on the screen.

Set's in Oklahoma.

The Choctaw Nation powwow
that we've put on is pretty amazing.

People from all over are here tonight
to be a part of this powwow.

It's one of the most special things
done in Marvel Studios.

[LAUGHTER]

What we're gonna do is
we'll just be bringing 'em in.

And then, when you guys tell us to cut,

usually the ringleader goes like this,
they're all in.

We'll stomp this out.

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

We started this process
of putting together this powwow,

and trying to figure out the logistics
of what it would take

to get everyone and everything here
that we needed

to accurately represent the powwow.

And ultimately, we just determined
that we should just throw a powwow.

We go out to the real performers,
the real dancers,

the real singers, the real drummers,
the real vendors.

In every respect,
reaching out to that community,

and just asking them
if they would come to Georgia,

and be a part
of the first powwow in the MCU.

SHIKOBA: [ON MIC] Look at this
beautiful powwow tonight,

round of applause!

[SHIKOBA VOCABLES]
[DRUMS b*ating]

[MEN SINGING]

SHIKOBA: It's the beauty of our way
on display right now!

KING: You can't fake this with actors.

The regalia that everybody wears
is very specific to their tribe.

So, it's not something you can just dress
from a costume house.

We had so many people come
and bring their family's regalia

that's been passed down to them
through generations.

One of the dancers was telling me

that she had yellow regalia,
which isn't typical for her tribe,

but she had a dream about regalia,
and she was telling me that in her tribe,

if you have a dream about a new regalia,
you have to go make that regalia.

And that's really cool
to hear those stories.

So, I'm a jingle dress dancer.

I've been dancing jingle
for a long time now.

The Anishinaabe people,

they share this dress with other tribes,
and they use it as a healing dress.

So, it's really important to, you know,

have prayers while dancing,
and bring that healing to everything.

So that's really what it is.
That's why I dance.

Right there, what you're listening to
is the medicine of our people.

The beauty of this dance right here is
healing our hearts, our mind, our spirits.

Let's give a round of applause
for our jingle dress dancers

and their sidestep song.

[SHIKOBA VOCABLES]

It feels like a real powwow
and it does help us.

It helps us as actors
to, like, accept this reality

and help do our job better.

The second night, once everything got
this lived-in quality,

I remember I started to relax.

I was like, "Yeah, I'm at a powwow.
I'm gonna go hang out.

"I'm gonna hang out with friends.
Go to the concession stand."

But then, "No, I'm on a film set.
I can't relax.

"We got to get the sh*ts and stuff."
It was weird.

It was this constant push and pull
of like,

"I'm gonna relax. No, I can't."

You know, [CHUCKLES]
and it was...

I guess that's a testament
to how well our art department team did,

and our AD team did in terms of
bringing in the dancers and all that.

After being in the heat for three nights,

[CHUCKLES] and sh**ting back to back,
and being tired,

it felt really good to have
everyone come together at the end,

and do a round dance together
as cast and crew.

DALLAS GOLDTOOTH: Come on out!

[LIVELY CHATTER]

Here we go.

There you go. Come in. Good. Good.

I'll come on in. I'll join, too.

Gonna get this started. Here we go!

[MEN SINGING, DRUMS b*ating]
[RHYTHMIC JINGLING]

GOLDTOOTH: Historic first.

This is the first round dance
of the MCU right here.

You're a part of this, people.
You're making history right now!

[CHEERS]

BREAD: Usually for powwows,

they'll do one more song
for everyone to join,

and send people home with a prayer.

And that's something that I wanted to do
and pay homage to.

People were even holding hands,
laughing with each other.

People were having a good time.
Like, it felt so good to see

everyone come together,
because with powwows,

and with production,
and with just being Indigenous,

no one can ever do anything by themselves.

It takes a community,

it takes teamwork to come together,

and to fully have that experience.

So, for us to do a round dance at the end,
it was a really beautiful moment.

It was a beautiful moment to see people
that have been tense behind camera,

or people that have been running around,

just rejoice
and finally understand the beauty

of what we just did.

And to see the sun coming up,
and to take that in,

and to take in the fresh moment,

it felt really powerful.

WOMAN: Thank you for the lives, Lord,

that are represented,
the tribes that are represented,

the nations that are represented.

I just pray that you will just continue
to work within us.

For we are all here for a purpose.
And that's your purpose.

I just give you all the glory,
honor and praise, Lord.

PALMER: She's not exactly a hero
by the end of this show.

I think she has chosen her family,

and chosen selflessness over selfishness.

But that doesn't exactly
make her a hero yet.

[GASPING]

What did you just do?

What did you do? Huh?

[YELLS] What did you do?

D'ONOFRIO: I love it that Fisk
comes into the series,

and you get to see that relationship
that's iconic when it comes to the comic.

But there is so much more
to Echo than that.

It's Maya's origin story to become Echo,

and it's got this flavor
that's very spiritual and very cool.

CARDINAL: I was raised by my grandmother.

I was raised in the bush,

and the people that have been my heroes
are people from the land.

And that's where my essence breathes from.

I couldn't be involved
unless my world can be brought forward.

And this is my world.

FREELAND: One of the things that
initially attracted me to the project

was this idea of balance
is something that is very specific

to Native American communities.

It's like, "Oh, this is cool."

"It isn't about a character
swinging between extremes.

"It's about a character
on an extreme finding balance."

HENRY: I don't want you to become me.

CHASKE: I'm very proud and very grateful
to be a part of Maya's story.

And Alaqua is amazing as Maya Lopez,

and the supporting cast
around her were her team.

GRAHAM GREENE: When I started out
in the business 42 years ago,

there wasn't that many opportunities left.

There's a lot of really talented kids
out there

that should be part of this,
if they wanted to be.

And lo and behold, there's Alaqua.

I'm so proud of her.
She's just a wonderful girl.

[ALAQUA SIGNING]

MAN: Ladies and gentlemen,
that is a wrap on Echo.

Way to go, everybody.
[APPLAUSE]

[APPLAUSE]

Thank you, everybody.