Marvel Sets its 2023 Streaming Future as They Settle on Premiere Dates for 'Loki' Season 2 & 'Echo' on Disney+

by Darian Scalamoni

    Despite Marvel Studios' recent struggles, it seems that they're latest film, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is a major hit with audiences. More popular Marvel characters are headed back to your television screens sooner than you had thought though as Disney has announced premiere dates for two series, one returning for a sophomore effort, while the other focuses on a character introduced in a previous series.

    At this past week's Disney presentation at the Upfronts, Marvel architect Kevin Feige revealed that Loki's second season will debut on October 6. At the presentation, he also showed off first-look footage that included the mischievous title character, Mobius, Sylvie and a new character played by recent Oscar-winner Ke Huy Quan. Loki stars Tom Hiddleston as the God of Mischief as he falls into trouble with the governmental agency known as the TVA, or the Time Variance Authority.

    The first season of arguably the most successful Disney+ MCU series to date saw an introduction to Jonathan Majors' He Who Remains, a variant of Kang the Conqueror. Majors was set to play a role in the upcoming season as well, but many are still in the dark on if Marvel has or is looking to recast Majors among his recent allegations. 

    Loki stars Hiddleston, Owen Wilson, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Sophia Di Martino, Quan and Wunmi Mosaku. Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, who previously directed episodes of Moon Knight will direct, while Eric Martin moves in as head writer.

    Additionally, Echo, a spinoff series revolving around the deaf Native-American heroine will launch on November 29. The character of Maya Lopez was first introduced to Marvel audiences in Hawkeye, played by newcomer Alaqua Cox. Now, she'll star in her own limited series that has a team of indigenous writers, directors and cast members.

    Within the comics, Lopez also has interactions with Moon Knight and Daredevil, so Echo could be an intro for the street level heroes to eventually come together in an event film or series. However, the major shake-up with this series is that Echo will be the first MCU show thus far to receive a full binge-release model, dropping all episodes at once. Every other full-length Marvel series to date has had weekly releases, with Echo being the notable exception.

    Cox stars in Echo alongside Zahn McClarnon, Vincent D'Onofrio, Charlie Cox, Devery Jacobs, Tantoo Cardinal, Cody Lightning, Chaske Spencer and Graham Greene.