“Loki” marks the return of Tom Hiddleston playing everyone’s favorite mischievous scamp for nearly the past ten years. While many of us thought the trickster met his unfortunate end at the hand of Thanos in “Avengers: Infinity War,” we were all surprised to see him alive once more during the time heist portion of “Avengers: Endgame.” What’s more, he also give the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. the slip when he came into possession of the Tesseract.
But Loki wouldn’t remain a fugitive for very long as the Time Variance Authority apprehended him with ease. And after some serious psychoanalysis and self-reflection, Loki is now working for the very people who not only arrested him but intend on resetting him in order to restore the time line. In other words, he is delaying his new fate after going off his predetermined course in the grand mystic timeline.
ThatsItLA had a chance to speak to Hiddleston during the virtual press conference for the show which is now on Disney+. There he talked about how much of a delight and surprise it was to be back and what excited him most about seeing his character on a new path.
“I had to scratch my head of it because that scene in ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ had felt so final. Had felt so conclusive, um, as the end of Loki’s story. I knew that ‘Avengers: Endgame’ was coming around the corner. And, in that scene in that film, Loki picks up the Tesseract and disappears in a puff of smoke,” HIddleston said.” And where does he go? When does he go? How does he get there?”
“Kevin [Feige], Louis D’Esposito, and Victoria Alonso a-all reassured me that that would be the starting point of the series. And there were so many places we could go. So many possibilities to think about,” Hiddleston added.
Feige knew he wanted to do a Loki series and that it would have time travel elements to it. Using that as a base was a great way for Feige and fellow producers Stephen Broussard and Kevin Wright to introduce the TVA. However, putting it all together proved to be a greater challenge.
“We’ve loved the idea of it. But just didn’t know exactly what to do, um, with it before Kevin [Wright] and Stephen [Broussard] had the idea of putting it as a major part of this show,” Feige said. “But it was really Kate [Herron’s] meetings with us and her pitch that brought in all those references and allowed us to look at this in a slightly different genre than we were anticipating.”
That new angle gives Loki the opportunity to grow and mature as a character. Something of which is hard to do for a character who finds it hard to break old habits. But with Loki out of Thor’s shadow, the Avengers nowhere in sight, and witnessing his true fate in the grand scheme of the MCU, Loki finds himself in very uneasy and unfamiliar territory.
“He’s stripped of his status and his power. And, if you take all those things that Loki has used to identify himself over the last six movies, what remains of Loki? Who is he, um, within or outside all of those things? And I think those questions became, for all of us, really fascinating to ask,” Hiddleston said. “What makes Loki, Loki? And, if there is something authentic ? Is he capable of growth? Is he capable of change? Um, and is he-do his experiences within the TVA give him any insight into who he might be? This mercurial shapeshifter who never presents the same exterior twice.”
The first episode of “Loki” is out now on Disney+, and subsequent episodes of the six-episode season will be released every Wednesday.
