Hot on the heels of the news that Kevin Feige vetoed a Star Wars crossover from happening in What If…?, Marvel Studios is ironically, and unknowingly, stepping into Lucasfilm territory with its very next TV series, Echo.
On the face of it, the five-part series — the first of the MCU to be given a TV-MA rating — which stars Alaqua Cox as anti-hero Maya Lopez bears very little in common with any of Disney Plus’ ever-growing slate of Star Wars shows. However, the function Echo plays within Marvel’s growing plans means it’s practically twinned with a certain Lucasfilm series, one that’s gone down as the unwanted stepchild of the galaxy far, far away.
And it’s name is The Book of Boba Fett.
Echo is Marvel’s unnecessary equivalent to The Book of Boba Fett
Coming a year before a much-anticipated new season of a beloved series in its universe, perhaps the most popular of the lot, this limited series — which was set up in the finale of another show — stars a villain that most fans think is a peculiar choice to lead their own vehicle. Things get even more confusing when some major guest stars turn up for cameos and essentially take the whole thing over.
So, am I talking about Echo or The Book of Boba Fett? Trick question: it’s both. Airing from December 2021 to February 2022, Boba Fett infamously failed to justify its own existence, struggling to give its titular protagonist any meaningful arc, but it did do a decent job of serving as The Mandalorian 2.5, as it brought Din Djarin and Grogu back together in time for Mando season 3. The result was a shameless piece of franchise furniture-moving that might just be the darkest hour of Star Wars on TV. Well, modern TV. Let’s not forget The Star Wars Holiday Special (no, wait, let’s).
Unfortunately, many of these sins are repeated in Echo. The show’s marketing has stressed the importance of Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin in the plot, as well as teasing the return of Charlie Cox’s Daredevil, over the storyline of Maya herself. In addition, the promos have been stuffed with footage from both Hawkeye — in which Maya made her debut — and Netflix’s Daredevil, cementing Echo‘s status as a bridge between Hawkeye and 2025’s Daredevil: Born Again. So, in essence, it’s Daredevil 3. 5.
With all five episodes releasing at once, Echo is also doomed to fade quicker into the fandom’s collective memory than even Boba Fett. Thankfully, with the self-contained Andor turning out so successfully, Lucasfilm shouldn’t be repeating its mistake anytime soon. Likewise, Marvel is in the process of rethinking its TV production strategy from top to bottom. With any luck, then, Echo will mark the closing of the book of this kind of streaming storytelling.