Tom Hiddleston reprises his role as Loki from the film series, with Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Wunmi Mosaku, Eugene Cordero, Tara Strong, Owen Wilson, Sophia Di Martino, Sasha Lane, Jack Veal, DeObia Oparei, Richard E. Grant, and Jonathan Majors also starring.

The season has a crime thriller tone, and sets up the events of the MCU films Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023).

[1] Neil Ellice recurs in the season as TVA Hunter D-90,[49] while Jaimie Alexander and Chris Hemsworth have uncredited appearances as Sif and the voice of Throg, respectively.

[69] The basic structure of the season was determined in the first three weeks of work, knowing the first episode would see Loki interrogated, the second having "the police work" with Mobius M. Mobius, the third would see Loki and his female variant Sylvie on Lamentis, the fourth had "the conspiracy coming undone", the fifth would take place in the Void or "some form of it", and the final episode would be at the Citadel at the End of Time.

[75] Waldron's pitch for the season was to create "a big, crazy, fun time adventure" that would explore a new corner of the MCU,[54] something Herron agreed with.

[7][80] He noted that the character had been out of control at pivotal parts of his life throughout the MCU films,[80] and the TVA's place working with different timelines would take him further out of his comfort zone.

Waldron explained that the nature of the work done by the TVA made the organization "uniquely suited to hold up a mirror to Loki and make him confront who he is and who he is supposed to be".

[36] Waldron said the season was structured as individual short stories rather than a six-hour film split into episodes, comparing his approach to the series The Leftovers and Watchmen.

series and WandaVision co-executive producer Mary Livanos to establish a "rule book" regarding the multiverse, its branch timelines, and nexus events.

[91] With the November 2018 announcement of the series, Hiddleston was expected to reprise his role as Loki,[51] with his involvement confirmed in February 2019 by Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan F.

[99] Though this variant is not Kang, Herron noted that the series "sets the table for [his] future outings" and called it "a massive responsibility and privilege" to introduce the character.

[109] For the design for the TVA, Herron pulled visual inspiration from the films Metropolis (1927), Blade Runner (1982), and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005), and the Brutalist architecture of southeast London to mix with the "midwest style" of the series Mad Men.

[116] Filming began on February 10, 2020,[117] at Pinewood Atlanta Studios in Fayette County, Georgia,[16]: 9  with Herron directing,[57] and Autumn Durald Arkapaw serving as cinematographer.

[119] Herron had a strong desire for Loki to be a love letter to science fiction films such as Brazil, Metropolis, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and Alien (1979).

[127] Visual effects were provided by Cantina Creative, Crafty Apes, Digital Domain, FuseFX, Industrial Light & Magic, Luma Pictures, Method Studios, Rise, Rodeo FX, and Trixter.

[133] Likening Loki to a Machiavellian character, Holt wanted his theme to have "gravitas and classical weight" in addition to a "space-age sound".

She cited Wendy Carlos's Moog synthesizer sounds in A Clockwork Orange (1971) as an influence, since Holt saw similarities between Loki and that film's protagonist Alex.

[130] The Norwegian instruments, including the hardanger fiddle and stringed nyckelharpa, were used to represent Asgard and Loki's mother Frigga,[129] as well as Sylvie's theme, which Holt described as "very dark, orchestral, driving, and murderous".

Asad Ayaz, Walt Disney Studios marketing president, and his team worked closely with Feige, D'Esposito, Herron, and Waldron to determine what information would be part of the campaign, while coordinating around the efforts of previous Disney+ series that were releasing before Loki to give those their "fair time".

[103] /Film's Hoai-Tran Bui said the scenes in the trailer was "very intriguing, cryptic stuff" and was surprised to learn the season was more than "just the time-hopping series we assumed" and would deal "with mysterious conspiracies and reality-bending organizations".

[150] Pulliam-Moore's colleague Jame Whitbrook said the trailer was "big on mystery" and was clearer than the first about the TVA's role in the series, but it was still unclear what Loki gained "beyond the chance to enact his own brand of chaos across an entire multiverse of timelines".

[153][25] Commentators were drawn to Miss Minutes, thinking it would be viewers' favorite new character, with /Film's Chris Evangelista loving the mascot despite its weirdness and not being convinced it was a clock.

[155] Two episodes of the series Marvel Studios: Legends were released on June 4, 2021, exploring Loki and the Tesseract using footage from their MCU film appearances.

[170] Disney CEO Bob Chapek announced that "Glorious Purpose" was the most-watched series premiere for the streaming service in its opening week.

The critical consensus reads, "A delightful diversion from the MCU as we know it, Loki successfully sees star Tom Hiddleston leap from beloved villain to endearing antihero—with a little help from Owen Wilson—in a series that's as off-kilter, charming, and vaguely dangerous as the demigod himself.

Mitovitch concluded that once the premise has been established, Loki gets "very fun", with each episode "building to a tantalizing, two-pronged reveal ... that opens up all kinds of possibilities" for the remainder of the series.

"[178] Nick Allen, reviewing for RogerEbert.com, called Loki "an exciting and genuinely inspired addition to Marvel storytelling, one that spins off and rockets its complicated villain into original territory with the help of time travel" adding the series was "bound to be a sci-fi gem".

[183] Giving the season an 8 out of 10, Simon Cardy of IGN said compared to the previous two Marvel Studios series which were "more introspective pieces", Loki took viewers "to new places to meet new people; not only making for an enjoyable watch in its own right, but also providing excitement through the promise of what's to come".

[185] Writing for The Verge, Chaim Gartenberg believed heading into the series that Loki felt like "a capital-S Spinoff" more so than WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, both of which served as lead ins to feature films.

[191] David Opie of Digital Spy criticized the introduction of He Who Remains, saying it "came completely out of nowhere" for non-comics readers, despite conceding that the speculation surrounding the character's appearance was correct.