''Echo 3'' is an American

action thriller The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...

television series created by

Mark Boal Mark Boal (born January 23, 1973) is an American journalist, screenwriter, and film producer. Boal initially worked as a journalist, writing for outlets like ''Rolling Stone'', ''The Village Voice'', ''Salon'', and '' Playboy''. Boal's 2004 arti ...

. The series, filmed in English and Spanish, stars

Michiel Huisman Michiel Huisman (born 18 July 1981) is a Dutch actor, musician and singer-songwriter born in Amstelveen, recognized for his roles in Dutch and international film and television projects. Huisman's music career began as the singer and guitarist ...

, Luke Evans, and Jessica Ann Collins and is a black ops thriller and tale of international intrigue, set in

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

, and shot almost entirely on location in 2021. It is based on the Israeli award-winning series '' When Heroes Fly'' created by Omri Givon, and inspired by the eponymous novel of Amir Gutfreund. ''Echo 3'' premiered on

Apple TV+ Apple TV+ is an American subscription over-the-top streaming service owned by Apple. The service launched on November 1, 2019, and it offers a selection of original production film and television series called Apple Originals. The service w ...

on November 23, 2022.

Plot

Amber Chesborough is an American scientist in Colombia researching psychedelics to treat addiction. When she is kidnapped by militants, her brother, Bambi, and her husband, Prince, both US Army

Delta Force The 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment–Delta (1st SFOD-D), also known as Delta Force, Combat Applications Group (CAG), or within Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) as Task Force Green, is a Special operation forces, special operat ...

operators, attempt to rescue her. The men have a complicated relationship, after a recent mission left their team leader dead.

Cast

as SFC. Eric "Prince" Haas, a US Army

operator, husband of Amber, Bambi's brother-in-law and teammate * Luke Evans as

MSG Monosodium glutamate (MSG), also known as sodium glutamate, is a sodium salt of glutamic acid. MSG is found naturally in some foods including tomatoes and cheese in this glutamic acid form. MSG is used in cooking as a flavor enhancer with a ...

. Alex "Bambi" Chesborough, a US Army Delta Force operator, brother of Amber, Prince's brother-in-law and teammate * Jessica Ann Collins as Amber Chesborough, a scientist researching psychedelics * Elizabeth Anweis as Natalie Foster * Fahim Fazli as Jabar, an Al Qaeda Commander * James Udom as Mitch * Maria Del Rosario as Graciela * Alejandro Furth as Tomas * Juan Pablo Raba as Ernesto Matiz * Sofia Buenaventura as Fami * Javier Rosado as Julian *

Bradley Whitford Bradley Whitford (born October 10, 1959) is an American actor and producer. He is best known for his portrayal of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman in the NBC television political drama ''The West Wing'' (1999–2006), for which he ...

as Prince's father * Martina Gusmán as Violeta Matiz, a prominent political journalist *

Franka Potente Franka Potente (; born 22 July 1974) is a German actress. She first appeared in the comedy film '' After Five in the Forest Primeval'' (1995), for which she won a Bavarian Film Award for Best Young Actress. Her breakthrough came in 1998, when s ...

as Hildy, a prison camp member of Amber's in Colombia *

Temuera Morrison Temuera Derek Morrison (born 26 December 1960) is a New Zealand actor who first gained recognition in his home country for playing Dr. Hone Ropata on the soap opera ''Shortland Street''. He garnered critical acclaim for starring as Jake "The M ...

as Roy Lennon, ex-

New Zealand Special Air Service The 1st New Zealand Special Air Service Regiment, abbreviated as 1 NZSAS Regt, is the special forces unit of the New Zealand Army, closely modelled on the British Special Air Service (SAS). It was formed on 7 July 1955. It traces its origins to ...

Episodes

Production

Development

In July 2020,

Apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

announced that it had given a 10-episode straight-to-series order for ''Echo 3'', to be produced by

and Keshet Studios, and adapted by

, with Boal and

Jason Horwitch Jason Horwitch is an American film and television writer. He is the recipient of the Writers Guild of America’s Paul Selvin Award for FX’s '' The Pentagon Papers''. Horwitch created AMC’s conspiracy thriller television series ''Rubicon'' an ...

executive producing and co-showrunning the series.

Casting

In May 2021, Luke Evans and

were cast in the series, with Elizabeth Anweis and Jessica Ann Collins joining in June 2021.

Filming

Production for ''Echo 3'' began on June 9, 2021 and concluded on February 1, 2022. Filming, which lasted over 200 days, occurred in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

and on location in

. The Afghanistan sequence was shot on a mountaintop at

Angel Fire, New Mexico Angel Fire is a village in Colfax County, New Mexico, Colfax County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 1,192 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Angel Fire Resort is a popular skiing and snowboarding destination, with over ...

Marketing

The trailer debuted on October 18, 2022. Reviews of the trailer have Echo 3 looking tensely realistic and politically relevant. Several reviews of the trailer mention a line from Amber (Collins) who tells a journalist, “You don’t know my family.” One review of the trailer said, “The series is created by two-time Academy Award winner Mark Boal, who’s had plenty of experience in penning thriller stories about foreign policy and with complex political implications.”

Reception

The

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

reported a 68% approval rating with an average rating of 6.2/10, based on 25 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "If ''Echo 3'' doesn't meet creator Mark Boal's evident ambitions for multilayered drama, it succeeds as a lean, mean action adventure". On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the show has a weighted average score of 67 out of 100 based on 11 critic reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

References

External links

* {{Apple TV+ 2020s American drama television series 2022 American television series debuts 2023 American television series endings American action television series American thriller television series American English-language television shows Spanish-language television shows Apple TV+ original programming American television series based on Israeli television series Television shows set in South America