Set in Oklahoma’s Choctaw Nation, Marvel Studio’s new miniseries Echo follows Maya Lopez (Alaqua Cox) as she returns home and connects with her Native American roots after a bounty has been placed on her head in New York — and the cast is full of Indigenous people from this side of the border.
Tantoo Cardinal, Devery Jacobs, Graham Greene and Cody Lightning appear on the show, to name a few.
“My characters name is Biscuits, and people are going to fall in love with Biscuits,” Lightning said. “Our family dynamic in Echo is very real and that’s really big, especially in Indigenous families — there’s no nonsense.”
“You’ll be able to see that in my character, he’s a very lovable person and I feel like everyone’s going to want a little piece of Biscuits.”
Echo, which is set to premiere on Disney+ on Tuesday, follows what happened in 2021’s Hawkeye.
In a video released by Marvel Studios, Navajo director and executive producer Sydney Freeland said the crew presented the script for Echo to the Choctaw Nation and it was a “collaboration” entirely. The Choctaw cultural council played a major part, working with the production team to ensure Echo was true when it came to representation.
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The series’ five episodes were even dubbed into the Choctaw language and the shows first screening was done at the Choctaw Cultural Centre.
Lightning said this is a long time coming.
Moving to Los Angeles from Edmonton, Alta., when he was just four, Lightning grew up around Indigenous musicians, actors and directors.
“Our house was like a hub for Indigenous artists,” he said. “To watch everyone struggle was hard and to know the struggles we’ve had and now we’re telling our own stories, by us, for us — it’s amazing.”
In recent years there’s been an uptick in Indigenous made and starred-in content on the big and small screens.
And while its been a long time coming, the years of struggle and fight for accurate representation have left a mark on many Indigenous creatives, Lightning said.
“A big thing with me and with a lot of Indigenous people is truly accepting that we deserve something, that we’ve worked for something and that we do belong doing whatever it is that we’re trying to accomplish.”
Lightning said he couldn’t be more excited to be part of Marvel’s Echo. After sending in his audition tape, he said it took about a month to get the call — a call he was sure he wasn’t going to get.
“It’s huge. I’ve been getting messages from people and they’re like, ‘Hey man, can’t wait to see this.’ Or, ‘I saw your face in the trailer and I can’t wait.’ The endorphins get going and it’s pretty awesome.”
When it comes to his own work, Lightning is no stranger to acting. Growing up in Los Angeles, he got his first role as young Victor in Smoke Signals.
Now, living in Edmonton, Lightning is writing and directing his own projects. “I wasn’t getting put up for a lot of the roles that I wanted because they weren’t available,” he said. “It took me a while, but I finally pulled the trigger.”
His most recent project, Hey, Viktor!, he co-wrote with his partner Samuel Miller, and also directed and starred in. The film follows Lightning as a washed up former child star as he tries to self-produce a sequel to Smoke Signals.
And the film was shot in and around Edmonton. “We shot in Enoch, in Wetaskiwin, Sherwood Park and had a blast doing it,” Lightning said.
“Around here, when you tell people we’d love to film here and do this, a lot of people are on board which has been awesome.”
Now down in Los Angeles for Echo’s premiere, Lightning can’t wait for people to watch and fall in love with Biscuits.
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