Marvel Studios has once again returned to our television screens, with the recent Disney+ series Secret Invasion. The wait for their return to the streaming service has felt like forever, with Marvel Studios absent since the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. However, with Secret Invasion in full swing, it’s time to look toward what the rest of 2023 has in store for us fans. Besides Loki, which arrives in October, fans are in for a treat with Echo, which is breaking the Marvel Studios mold, with all episodes dropping on a single day instead of a weekly basis.
With two such highly anticipated projects arriving in the later part of the year, any and all information that fans can get their hands on hypes the excitement even more. Today, we here at The Cosmic Circus are excited to share with you a casting update for Echo, whom some people may recognize from Tik Tok. Continue on to learn more about who is joining the ranks of stars Alaqux Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio in this Marvel Studios series.
Tik Tok star Juwan Lakota joins Echo
It’s hard to argue the power and pull that Tik Tok has on today’s society. The app provides easily digestible videos covering pretty much any topic you can hope for, appealing to a wide range of individuals. People are becoming “Tik Tok famous” by posting short videos to the app, rocking them into stardom through their beloved fanbases. So it shouldn’t be too much of a shock that such a rising star from Tik Tok has made his way into Marvel Studio’s Echo.
@juwan.lakota Remember this.. #fyp #lifeadvice #nativetiktok #lifehacks #advicetiktok #grwm
Thanks to a heads-up from our friend Scarlet Witch Updates on Twitter, (@ScarletWitchUpd) we have learned that Juwan Lakota has joined the series in an undisclosed role. This information comes from a stunt double who worked on the series, Steven Shelby. On his resume under Echo, Shelby is listed as the stunt double of Lakota, with the stunt coordinator for the series being Keith Campbell. Shelby has worked with Marvel Studios on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (Dave Bautista stunt double), as well as a stunt performer in both Ms. Marvel and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever! More recently, he’s doubled for Dwayne Johnson on Red One and Laurence Fishburn on Megalopolis, according to his resume.
So who exactly is Juwan Lakota? It’s okay if you don’t recognize his name, Lakota seems relatively new to the acting game. On his IMDb page, he currently has only a single acting credit to his name, Cowboy Currency, a short film where Lakota played a character named Hunter. However, as stated above, Lakota has a much larger presence on social media, specifically Tik Tok. On the app, Lakota has a massive following with 430 thousand followers and a whopping 4.1 million likes across his videos.
@juwan.lakota
In his Tik Tok bio, Lakota writes that he’s an Oglala Lakota Native and is here to inspire. Juwan Lakota’s videos are a mixture of his workouts, funny comedic snippets, and glimpses of his Native American culture and heritage. He has a ton of personality that oozes off the screen, as well as a great voice and a fantastic physique. It’s no wonder why so many people are following him.
Who Lakota is playing is still a mystery, as is so much about Echo. However, whomever he’s playing, I’m expecting some great fun from him in the role.
What is known about Echo
We do know that Echo is a sequel to Hawkeye, in that it picks up Maya Lopez’s journey of self-discovery after her reality with Kingpin comes crashing down. The final moments of Hawkeye saw Alaqua Cox’s hero holding Vincent D’Onofrio’s Wilson Fisk at gunpoint. With the crack of the gun, as it goes off, Maya’s story is left as a big question mark.
However, Echo will see the character returning to her home in Oklahoma, where she comes face to face with her past, her heritage, and her family. How will this impact Maya, well it’s still to be seen, but I expect this series to have major ramifications on the entirety of the street-level Marvel Cinematic Universe as Phase 5 progresses and beyond.
Echo also stars Zahn McClarnon as William Lopez, Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock, as well as Chaske Spencer, Tantoo Cardinal, Devery Jacobs, Cody Lightning, and Graham Greene all in undisclosed roles.
Echo arrives on Disney+ on November 29. Are you excited for the series? Who do you think Juwan Lakota is playing? Let us know on Twitter or in the Cosmic Circus Discord.
UPDATE: Here’s our Review of Marvel’s Echo!
