Loki is an American television series created by Michael Waldron for the streaming service Disney+, based on Marvel Comics featuring the character Loki. It is the third television series in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) produced by Marvel Studios, sharing continuity with the films of the franchise. The series takes place after the events of the film Avengers: Endgame (2019), in which an alternate version of Loki created a new timeline. Waldron served as head writer and Kate Herron directed the first season, with Eric Martin and the duo Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead serving as head writer and leading the directing team for the second season, respectively.
Tom Hiddleston reprises his role as Loki from the film series, starring alongside Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Wunmi Mosaku, Eugene Cordero, Tara Strong, Owen Wilson, Sophia Di Martino, Jonathan Majors, and Neil Ellice. Sasha Lane, Jack Veal, DeObia Oparei, and Richard E. Grant also star in the first season, with Rafael Casal, Kate Dickie, Liz Carr, Ke Huy Quan and Richard Dixon joining for the second. By September 2018, Marvel Studios was developing several limited series for Disney+, centered on supporting characters from the MCU films. A series featuring Hiddleston as Loki was confirmed in November 2018. Waldron was hired in February 2019, and Herron joined by that August. Martin, who served as a writer on the first season, was revealed to be writing the entire second season in February 2022, along with Benson and Moorhead joining to direct the majority of the season's episodes; Dan DeLeeuw and Kasra Farahani also directed in the second season. Filming occurred in Atlanta, Georgia for the first season, with the second season being filmed in the United Kingdom.
Loki premiered on June 9, 2021. Its first season, consisting of six episodes, concluded on July 14 and is part of Phase Four of the MCU. It received positive reviews from critics, especially for the performances. A second season, also consisting of six episodes, ran from October 5 to November 9, 2023, as part of Phase Five. It also received positive reviews, with praise for its conclusion, musical score, and Loki's character arc.
Premise After stealing the Tesseract during the events of Avengers: Endgame (2019), an alternate version of Loki is brought to the mysterious Time Variance Authority (TVA), a bureaucratic organization that exists outside of time and space and monitors the timeline. They give Loki a choice: face being erased from existence due to being a "time-variant", or help fix the timeline and stop a greater threat. Loki ends up in his own crime thriller, traveling through time, hunting a female version of himself named Sylvie.
After the first season ends with the timeline breaking and the creation of a multiverse, the second season shows Loki teaming up with Mobius M. Mobius, Hunter B-15, and other TVA agents "in a battle for the soul" of the TVA. This includes a search through the multiverse for Sylvie, Ravonna Renslayer, and Miss Minutes.
Cast and characters
Tom Hiddleston as Loki:The Asgardian god of mischief and Thor's adopted brother, based on the Norse mythological deity of the same name. This is an alternate, "time-variant" version of Loki who created a new timeline in the film Avengers: Endgame (2019) beginning in 2012. Because of this, he has not gone through the events of the films Thor: The Dark World (2013) and Thor: Ragnarok (2017), which reformed the previously villainous character before his death in the film Avengers: Infinity War (2018). Head writer Michael Waldron compared Loki to Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs since both were adopted and love being in control. Hiddleston expressed interest in returning to the role to explore Loki's powers, particularly his shapeshifting, which plays into the series' exploration of identity. Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Ravonna Renslayer:The former Time Variance Authority (TVA) Hunter A-23 who rose from the ranks to become a respected judge; she oversees the Loki variant investigation. Season one director Kate Herron compared both Mbatha-Raw and Renslayer to chameleons, and said Renslayer was always "trying to dance the line" with Mobius M. Mobius of being both his superior and his friend. Herron added that Mbatha-Raw brought a warmth to Renslayer, while also channeling her pain. Mbatha-Raw called Renslayer "incredibly ambitious" and felt there was the "ultimate personality clash" between her and Loki. She continued that Renslayer has "a lot on her shoulders" and has to make "morally ambiguous choices", which forces the character to keep secrets and build up layers. Waldron believed that Renslayer had "the making of a very complex villain". Wunmi Mosaku as Hunter B-15:A high-ranking Hunter of the TVA determined to stop the variant that has been killing Minutemen troops. Mosaku called B-15 a "badass" who is a loyal devotee of the TVA, with a strong affinity for the Time-Keepers, whom she believes are gods. Mosaku was drawn to B-15's honesty and ability to be herself, noting, "She doesn't have any social etiquette running through her and her interactions. What she feels and what she thinks is what you see and what you get." Hunter B-15 was originally written as a male character, but changed after Mosaku's audition; she pointed out that the character's gender did not alter the essence of the type of character B-15 was meant to be. Eugene Cordero as Casey: A TVA receptionist. Cordero also portrays Hunter K-5E in the new TVA seen at the end of the first season. Tara Strong voices Miss Minutes:The animated anthropomorphic artificial intelligence (AI) clock mascot of the TVA created by He Who Remains, who she is in love with. Strong voices Miss Minutes with a "Southern drawl", which Herron felt was a representation of Waldron, since he is from the Southern United States. Her design was inspired by Felix the Cat and other cartoons from the early 20th century, with Herron calling Miss Minutes a "Roger Rabbit kind of character". Strong felt the "dire information" Miss Minutes is tasked with conveying was "the perfect mix of who she is", since it is said "with a smile on her face". Owen Wilson as Mobius M. Mobius:An agent of the TVA who specializes in the investigations of particularly dangerous time criminals. Herron likened Mobius to a hard-boiled detective, with Wilson comparing him to the character Jack Cates in the film 48 Hrs. (1982). Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige noted that the character is similar to Wilson in that he is unfazed by the MCU. Sophia Di Martino as Sylvie:A variant of Loki who is attacking the "Sacred Timeline" and has enchantment powers. She does not consider herself to be a Loki, using the name "Sylvie" as an alias. While Sylvie was inspired by Sylvie Lushton / Enchantress and Lady Loki from the comics, she is a different person with a different backstory from those characters as well as Hiddleston's Loki. Di Martino kept her regional accent for Sylvie to not sound "too posh or too well spoken", to help reflect the life Sylvie had lived. Hiddleston felt Di Martino incorporated "certain characteristics" he uses for Loki to portray Sylvie, while still making the character "completely her own". An extensive backstory for the character was written by series' writer Elissa Karasik, with Waldron hopeful some of the material could be featured in the second season. Sasha Lane as Hunter C-20: A TVA Hunter kidnapped and enchanted by Sylvie to reveal the location of the Time-Keepers. Jack Veal as Kid Loki: A young variant of Loki who created a Nexus event by killing Thor and considers himself the king of the Void. DeObia Oparei as Boastful Loki: A Loki variant who makes wild exaggerations about his accomplishments. Richard E. Grant as Classic Loki:An old Loki variant who faked his death to escape being killed by Thanos and decided to live his life in seclusion until he became lonely. Classic Loki has the ability to conjure larger, more elaborate illusions than Loki. Jonathan Majors as He Who Remains and Victor Timely: Variants of Kang the Conqueror. He Who Remains is a scientist from the 31st century who ended the first multiversal war by destroying "evil variants" of himself and created the TVA to prevent a new multiverse from forming and to keep his variants from coming back into existence. He is an original creation for the series, inspired by a separate comic book character of the same name as well as the character Immortus. Victor Timely is an industrialist and inventor in 1893 on a branched timeline who created an early version of the Temporal Loom. He has a stutter and an awkward, timid personality, and acts as a con man selling others his creations. Discussing the contrasting personality of Timely to other Kang variants, executive producer Kevin R. Wright said it was "fun" to have Timely be "sort of an eccentric, quiet inventor that maybe is, like, a bit out of time and out of place" rather than the expectation of the next Kang variant to appear in the MCU to be "some sci-fi villain from the future". Marvel Studios was excited to continue exploring Kang and his variants in the season, particularly wanting Timely for Loki, with Wright noting his inclusion and integration would be "a big part" of the season.
Rafael Casal as Hunter X-5 / Brad Wolfe:A TVA Hunter with a close connection to General Dox. Casal called Hunter X-5 "Loki's mirror—another person who feels wronged. He's a bit of a lost character and almost feels like an earlier version of Loki, reflecting back to him." Director Dan DeLeeuw called X-5 "more of a straight villain, more of a heavy; a foil for Loki". X-5 finds his real life on the Sacred Timeline and becomes the actor Brad Wolfe. DeLeeuw thought Casal "brought an interesting humanity" to his portrayal of Wolfe, explaining that it was his choice to become Wolfe to break free from the TVA being X-5's reality. As well, the creative team "couldn't resist" having a character who no longer believed in the reality of the TVA becoming an actor, given Wolfe now "puts on a perception of reality for a living". Kate Dickie as General Dox:A TVA general who is part of the new council of judges following Renslayer's disappearance. She is searching for Sylvie and still believes in the TVA's mission to prune branched timelines. Liz Carr as Judge Gamble: A TVA judge part of the new council. Neil Ellice as Hunter D-90: A TVA Hunter. Ke Huy Quan as Ouroboros "O.B.":A TVA agent who works in its Repairs and Advancement Department. Described as the "quirky repair guy", Wright explained that every piece of technology at the TVA was either designed by O.B. or he knows how to fix it and keep it operational. Richard Dixon as Robber Baron: An industrialist who purchases a faulty invention from Victor Timely at the 1893 Chicago's World's Fair.
Episodes
Season 1 (2021)
Season 2 (2023)
Production
Development By September 2018, Marvel Studios was developing several limited series for its parent company Disney's streaming service, Disney+, to be centered on supporting characters from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films who had not starred in their own films, such as Loki; the actors who portrayed the characters in the films were expected to reprise their roles for the limited series. These series were expected to be six to eight episodes each and have a "hefty [budget] rivaling those of a major studio production". The series would be produced by Marvel Studios, rather than Marvel Television, which produced previous television series in the MCU. Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige was believed to be taking a "hands-on role" in each series' development, focusing on "continuity of story" with the films and "handling" the actors who would be reprising their roles from the films. Disney CEO Bob Iger confirmed in November that a series centered on Loki was in development and that Tom Hiddleston was expected to reprise his role from the film series.