The cast and crew of Marvel’s new Disney+ series LOKI reveals the labour of love to bring everyone’s favourite God of Mischief to the small screen.
When Tom Hiddleston played Loki in Marvel Studios’ Thor a decade ago, the character quickly won over fans with his charm and charisma. Everyone thought it was the end of Loki when he was killed by Thanos at the beginning of Avengers: Infinity War. Love him or hate him, the Marvel Cinematic Universe would have been a poorer place without its resident trickster.
So, when Kate Herron got wind that a Loki series was going to be made, she literally pestered her agent to get her in the director’s chair. She even went as far to create an elaborate pitch and utilised a whole wall to put forth her vision.
“I remember leaving that first meeting with Kate feeling like this is a person who understands the spirit of what we would love to achieve, and she wasn’t just going to execute those ideas but was going to push them even further,” said co-executive producer Kevin Wright.
“She had an extensive visual pitch that was unlike anything I had seen. She left no scene unturned and had a complete vision of how to translate this series to screen and create something wholly unique to the MCU.”
Herron shared that she was immediately drawn to the story when she read Michael Waldron’s script. “What I really loved about the story when I first got the script was that it was this really big, ambitious sci-fi story,” said Herron.
“But, in disguise, really, it had another story going on. That’s definitely what drew me in. [Loki] had one of the best arcs, I think, across the MCU, and we’ve seen him change so much over a decade. The exciting thing as a storyteller was to go back to where we see the Avengers’ Loki, and he’s a completely different guy to the person that we have seen in the recent movies. What really excited me was that he still has all this road to travel.”
Although Loki only appeared in the films for less than two hours over the course of ten years, he has become a fan favourite character to everyone’s surprise including Tom Hiddleston.
Knowing how much fans love Loki, Marvel Studios filmmakers knew they didn’t want to invalidate Loki’s death and sacrifice at the hands of Thanos. It was really important to have a premise that allowed for a new story that doesn’t undo everything the audience have known and loved about the journey Loki has been on.
In the films, Loki’s story is always tied to his connection with his brother, Thor, and his family. British actor Tom Hiddleston, who also serves as an executive producer on the show, knew that Loki needed to evolve and thus, posited questions of his own during meetings with Marvel Studios filmmakers: “Where do we go now? What have we not done? What’s new? What’s original?”
“That was the most inspiring conversation,” recalls Hiddleston. “I remember leaving it thinking, this is going to be very, very new because the character has got so much breadth and so much depth. That’s been the gift to me as an actor. Loki is almost this endlessly fascinating box of tricks where the moment you think you know him he reveals something else.”
Knowing that Hiddleston is a treasure trove of information regarding Loki’s place in the MCU and his relationship with the other characters, Herron jumped at the chance to draw out this knowledge for the benefit of all the cast and crew.
The ‘Loki Lecture’ held by Hiddleston helped make sure everyone was on the same page and working from the same angle. The lectures also helped Owen Wilson to bond with Hiddleston and bring his character Mobius up to speed regarding Loki’s character.
For head writer Michael Waldron and his team, it was an exciting challenge to run with all these crazy ideas and to show another side of Loki.
“It was obviously a big, crazy thing with a lot to figure out. It was like, how do we take that character and everything we love about him, and tell a whole new story?
“The big idea from Marvel was the Time Variance Authority. I was like this is the craziest thing in the world, but it was really exciting,” said Waldron.
“My pitch was to do something nobody expects and with every episode let’s blow up what people think the show is and do something totally different. It was always about doing something awesome and totally unexpected with this character,” he added.
Marvel Studios’ Loki is currently available on Disney+ Hotstar. Catch new episodes premiering every Wednesday.
Read our exclusive interview with Michael Waldron HERE
