During the Disney Upfront event, Marvel’s studio chief Kevin Feige revealed the scheduled premiere dates for the second season of “Loki” featuring Tom Hiddleston and the “Echo” spinoff series centred around Hawkeye.
The second season of “Loki” is set to premiere on October 6, while “Echo” will have a unique release strategy with all episodes dropping at once on November 29, making it the first Marvel series to adopt this approach.
During the event, Feige proudly highlighted that “Loki” will mark Marvel’s “first-ever second season,” continuing the narrative of Tom Hiddleston’s mischievous god and his time-travelling escapades from Season 1. While Feige emphasized the return of co-stars Owen Wilson and Sophia DiMartino, as well as the addition of Ke Huy Quan, an Oscar-winning actor from “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” he didn’t mention the anticipated appearance of Jonathan Majors in Season 2.
Majors is set to reprise his role as one of the variants of the Marvel villain Kang, as seen in Season 1 and the upcoming film “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.” It’s worth noting that Majors faced legal issues, being arrested on March 25 on domestic violence charges. He is currently awaiting a court hearing in June and has denied the allegations.
For Season 2 of “Loki,” Eric Martin, known for his work on “Rick and Morty,” returns as the sole writer responsible for all episodes. Directing duties for the show have been entrusted to Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, who previously worked on “Moon Knight.”
In parallel, the series “Echo” will delve deeper into the story of Maya Lopez, portrayed by Alaqua Cox, a deaf Native American assassin who was first introduced as a reluctant antagonist in the 2021 Disney+ series “Hawkeye.” Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige expressed his admiration for the “incredible team of indigenous writers, directors, and cast members” behind the limited series. The notable cast includes Zahn McClarnon from “Reservation Dogs,” Graham Greene from “Dances With Wolves,” Chaske Spencer from “Wild Indian,” Tantoo Cardinal from “Killers of the Flower Moon,” Devery Jacobs from “Reservation Dogs,” and Cody Lightning from “Hey, Viktor!” Furthermore, the series is directed by Sydney Freeland, known for her work on “Reservation Dogs” and “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds,” as well as Catriona McKenzie, who has directed episodes of “The Walking Dead” and “Shining Vale.” It’s also worth mentioning that Vincent D’Onofrio will reprise his role as Wilson Fisk, also known as Kingpin, and Charlie Cox will return as Daredevil, both of whom originated their respective characters in the Netflix series “Daredevil.”
The recent announcements confirm that Marvel is significantly reducing the frequency of its releases on Disney+. In 2021 and 2022, Marvel introduced a total of 11 titles on the streaming platform. However, the upcoming plans reveal a more restrained approach. Initially, Marvel had scheduled five live-action shows to premiere in 2023. These included the second season of “Loki,” the series “Echo,” and the highly anticipated Samuel L. Jackson-led “Secret Invasion” series, set to premiere on June 21. Additionally, spinoff series “Ironheart” derived from “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” and “Agatha: Coven of Chaos” based on “WandaVision” were also announced for this year. However, the release of “Ironheart” and “Agatha” has now been postponed to 2024.
Source: Variety
