Loki is an American television series created by Michael Waldron for the streaming service Disney+, based on Marvel Comics featuring the character of the same name.
The series takes place after the events of the film Avengers: Endgame (2019), in which an alternate version of Loki created a new timeline.
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.
By September 2018, Marvel Studios was developing a number of limited series for Disney+, centered on supporting characters from the MCU films.
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,[1][2][3] hunting a female version of himself named Sylvie.
He kept plans for the series a secret until the official announcement later in 2018 and later expressed excitement about being able to develop Loki differently by taking an earlier version of the character and bringing him into contact with new, more "formidable" opponents.
[36][54] Michael Waldron was hired as head writer and executive producer of the series in February 2019, and was set to write the first episode.
Benson and Moorhead previously directed two episodes of Moon Knight (2022), which went "so smoothly" that Marvel Studios wanted the duo to work on other projects, and they were quickly chosen for the second season of Loki.
[76][77] Loki falls in love with his female variant, Sylvie, in the season, which was a large part of Waldron's pitch for the series.
He continued by saying Loki was "ultimately about self-love, self-reflection, and forgiving yourself" and it "felt right" for the series be the character's first "real love story".
[80] In the first-season finale, the "man behind the curtain" of the TVA is revealed to be He Who Remains, a variant of the Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023) character Kang the Conqueror.
[82] The first-season finale also sets up the events of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,[65] and elements of Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021).
[84] Wright stated that the creatives wanted to push the weirdness of the series further in the second season, while still keeping the longer, character-driven moments, notably the friendship between Loki and Mobius.
[20][6] Majors also returns in the season as He Who Remains, while also portraying an additional Kang the Conqueror variant Victor Timely,[36] who was introduced at the end of Quantumania.
[35][93] Joining them for the season are Rafael Casal as Hunter X-5 / Brad Wolfe,[41][43] Kate Dickie as General Dox, Liz Carr as Judge Gamble,[41] Ke Huy Quan as Ouroboros "O.B.
[97] Filming for the second season occurred at Pinewood Studios in the United Kingdom,[98] and on location in London,[99] with Isaac Bauman and Oliver Loncraine serving as cinematographers.
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.
The critical consensus reads, "Loki's dizzying, dazzling second season may rely on sleight of hand to distract from its slightly less satisfying storyline, but the end result still contains enough of that old Marvel magic to entertain.
[132] The special on this series, "The Making of Loki", goes behind the scenes of the first season, featuring Waldron, Herron, Hiddleston, Mbatha-Raw, Mosaku, Wilson, Di Martino, Oparei, Grant, and Majors.
[136] Blair said TVA was her "comics interpretation" of the organization following Loki's sacrifice at the end of season two, calling it a "funny, in-between awesome space".