‘Loki’s second season scored huge viewership on Disney+ upon its return last week.
Only ‘The Mandalorian’s Season 3 premiere this last March had higher initial viewership.
The show sees the return of Tom Hiddleston’s Marvel character, whose original season debuted in 2021.
After some less than thrilling reviews and audience figures for recent Marvel series such as ‘Secret Invasion’, Disney must be breathing a sigh of relief and offering up blessings to the God of Mischief.
Because the first episode of Season 2 for ‘Loki’, starring Tom Hiddleston, has racked up some healthy viewing figures.
What were the viewing figures for the premiere of ‘Loki’ Season 2?
The premiere of the new season, which dropped on Thursday, October 5th, has garnered 10.9 million views globally within three days of becoming available for streaming, at least according to Disney’s own calculations.
And the Marvel series was not just popular with viewers, but also critics. Season two of ‘Loki’ holds an 88% score on review site Rotten Tomatoes, which makes it certified “fresh”. That goes along with a stellar 94% audience score on the site.
So clearly, people are happy to see the return of Loki and the Time Variance Agency. And we also enjoyed the latest episode.
In fact, the only series that has scored higher than ‘Loki’ is the third season of ‘The Mandalorian’, which landed on Disney+ this past March. Mando’s triumph is not really a surprise since there was plenty of pent-up demand for the return of the ‘Star Wars’ series.
‘Loki’ similarly benefitted from fan anticipation since Season 1 landed all the way in 2021.
The new season picks up immediately in the aftermath of the shocking season finale when Loki (Tom Hiddleston) finds himself in a battle for the soul of the Time Variance Authority.
Along with Mobius (Owen Wilson), Hunter B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku) and a team of new and returning characters, Loki navigates an ever-expanding and increasingly dangerous multiverse in search of Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino), Judge Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), Miss Minutes (Tara Strong) and the truth of what it means to possess free will and glorious purpose.
Returning from Season 1 is Eugene Codero as Casey, a low-ranking TVA worker who was shown as a Hunter in a parallel timeline at the end of that first season but will be back in his original role to help Loki and co. Jonathan Majors, meanwhile, is once more playing another Kang variant, this time a 19th century professor named Victor Timely (first glimpsed in an end credits scene of ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’) who has a strong connection to the organization.
Premiering on Disney+ beginning October 5th is the six-episode second season of the popular Marvel series ‘Loki.’
What is the plot of ‘Loki’ Season 2?
Following the events of ‘Loki’ season 1, Loki (Tom Hiddleston) finds himself in a battle for the soul of the Time Variance Authority. Along with Mobius (Owen Wilson), Hunter B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku) and a team of new and returning characters, Loki navigates an ever-expanding and increasingly dangerous multiverse in search of Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino), Judge Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), Miss Minutes (Tara Strong) and the truth of what it means to possess free will and glorious purpose.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Producer and Marvel Creative Executive Kevin Wright about his work on ‘Loki’ season 2, the show’s time-jumping, if Loki is truly a hero or a villain, Loki and Mobius’ relationship, Tom Hiddleston and Owen Wilson’s on screen chemistry, introducing Victor Timely, and setting up Kang’s variants for other MCU projects.
‘Loki’ Season 2 producer and Marvel Creative Executive Kevin Wright.
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interview.
Moviefone: To begin with, season 2 of ‘Loki’ deals with the concept of time and you also play with time within the story. Can you talk about plotting the second season and the challenges of playing with time?
Kevin Wright: They are immense. We thought, “Hey, we made a show about timelines and multiverse in season one. We’re going to make it even harder on ourselves this season by doing time loops.” It was something we decided really early on, Eric Martin, our head writer, and myself. It was really appealing. Eric had said jokingly early on, but also seriously, “We can land this. It’s going to be messy for a while because we’ve got to take apart the engine and plant flags in various places, but we can get there. It’s just going to take a lot of refinement and fine-tuning.” It was an exciting proposition because we didn’t want to come back and just repeat season one. We knew we couldn’t come back and play the hits, and we knew that the audience was on board for the weird timey stuff in season one, and that if we are smart about it and we make it digestible, they’ll be on board for this too. The trick was just always make it as serviceable as possible so that we can tell our character story. If it doesn’t get in the way of that, if it ever starts feeling like homework, or it’s confusing and not intriguing, we’ve got to recalibrate. So that was always the baseline for us.
MF: One of the questions season 2 asks is: Is Loki truly a hero or a villain at his core? What is your personal opinion?
KW: I think to ever be the best version of yourself, you have to embrace all aspects of your past. Loki has a lot of things in his past that I’m sure would be seen as villainous. He’s been an anti-hero. He’s played completely in that gray. He’s had redemptive arcs. I think what we liked was putting him on the path to heroism and seeing if this character could get there or if it becomes too hard, if he backslides, or if he’s going to make the right choices. Because heroism gets very tough if you’re put in a position where maybe you have nothing to gain from it. So to me, it was about, could this character ever be the best version of himself because we all see the promise, and it feels like the audience is always rooting for him to get there. That was fun to build into the narrative itself.
MF: Can you talk about Loki and Mobius’ relationship in season 2 and Tom Hiddleston and Owen Wilson’s on screen chemistry together?
KW: It’s unreal what the two of those have captured. Look, I think the exciting thing was, people really liked them in season one, and it makes it very easy then to continue on to not only the detective work but the further exploration of these two characters. The great thing in season one was, Mobius disarms Loki in that first episode in the time theater by saying, “I see what you are. I’m not judging you. Let’s have a conversation.” He was very accepting in a way that I don’t think Loki ever had, and it allowed us to kind of get this version of Loki that we hadn’t seen before. So it just felt natural that we could continue to do it this season. But also that Loki hopefully could start disarming Mobius so we could learn more about him and what makes him tick. So for those guys, I’m sure every one of our writers would say it’s a joy to write for them. So it’s about giving them meaty things to dig into because they’re going to bring so much of their own to it, not just in performance, but character, dialogue, and everything. They take it and run with it.
MF: Finally, can you talk about the challenges of introducing He Who Remains last season, as well as Victor Timely this season, and setting up the different variants of Kang for other future Marvel projects?
KW: I think for us, it wasn’t a challenge. I think the fun thing was, we knew we wanted to do Victor. Victor was an idea that we were trying to get into season one, and it was just never going to be able to fit because there’s too much story. But it was exciting because the last thing we’re hearing is that war’s coming. All of these terrible things are happening, and then the most unexpected version of this guy pops up, and he pops up in the past. That was exciting. He was going to be an eccentric. I think for us, we were like, “Are we going to be allowed to do this? Do we have to go further and do the scary version?” It was nothing but embraced because I think it just allows for that much more dynamic storytelling going forward that this guy can be anyone. He can pop up in any form. That’s what gets exciting about it.
Launching on Disney+ on October 5th (with one episode), the second season of Marvel’s ‘Loki’ is a welcome return for one of the better shows to be produced by the company and maintains a lot of what worked the first time around.
And new additions to the story, such as Ke Huy Quan (who knows a thing two about acting in a multiversal story after ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once), add to the entertainment value.
The new season picks up immediately in the aftermath of the shocking season finale when Loki (Tom Hiddleston) finds himself in a battle for the soul of the Time Variance Authority.
Along with Mobius (Owen Wilson), Hunter B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku) and a team of new and returning characters, Loki navigates an ever-expanding and increasingly dangerous multiverse in search of Sylvie (Sophie Di Martino), Judge Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), Miss Minutes (Tara Strong) and the truth of what it means to possess free will and glorious purpose.
The ensemble for the new season also features (as mentioned) Ke Huy Quan, plus other new recruits Rafael Casal, Kate Dickie and Liz Carr.
Returning from Season 1 is Eugene Codero as Casey, a low-ranking TVA worker who was shown as a Hunter in a parallel timeline at the end of that first season but will be back in his original role to help Loki and co. Jonathan Majors, meanwhile, is once more playing another Kang variant, this time a 19th century professor named Victor Timely (first glimpsed in an end credits scene of ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’) who has a strong connection to the organization.
Even without show creator Michael Waldron (who remains peripherally involved as an executive producer) and director Kate Heron, who was responsible for so much of the style and tone of the first season, it’s pleasing to report that ‘Loki’ continues to be a fantastically fun watch.
With Eric Martin, who was a key part of the team for the first season, taking over running the show here and the likes of Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead (‘The Endless’ and ‘Synchronic’ in theaters and already part of the MCU thanks to their work on ‘Moon Knight‘) inheriting directorial duties, ‘Loki’s second run happily maintains the quality and pulp fiction of the first.
Shouldering the heavy load of continuing the story after that universe-hopping cliffhanger, the new episodes (press were given the first four), throw us straight back into chaos and confusion of the Time Variance Authority as Loki (Hiddleston remains perfect in the role, switching between confident and frazzled on a whim), Mobius (Wilson, still a great counterpart for him) and others try to figure out what is really going.
There are several solid cast additions, but we have to single out Ke Huy Quan, who continues to enjoy a remarkable yet well-earned career renaissance. Off the back of his Oscar win for ‘Everything Everywhere’, he’s superb as genius technical whizz Ouroboros (“OB” for short) who maintains all the technology of the TVA from his cluttered basement lair. Quan fits in perfectly into the show’s world, able to make the humor work and delivering exposition without having you scratch your head or reach for the fast-forward button.
This is a show that knows how to use its ensemble and while the focus is usually on Loki, Mobius or the ever-snarky Sylvie (Di Martino continues to impress), the character love is shared, with some of the supporting roles (Quan and Casal’s Hunter X-5) given their own convincing stories.
Reason to celebrate the show and its title character’s return, then –– which has not always been the case for recent Marvel TV work (looking at you, ‘Secret Invasion’).
The problems with the second season are relatively minor –– though, again, we were only sent the first four episodes, so it remains to be seen if it sticks the landing, and whether it opts for the frustration of another cliffhanger.
There might be some checking their watches through the first episode, which somewhat has the burden of re-introducing the complex central conceit with all of its time branching, time-slipping and odd technology. Fortunately, later episodes pick up the pace and the story kicks into gear, though there is something of a whiff of familiarity occasionally as many of the plots involve a mission to find [insert name of object or person here] so as to avert [crisis X].
And in the annals of Obvious Product Placement, having Sylvie tracked down working at a McDonald’s must rank as quite the most ridiculous for a show as smart as this –– but then, Disney does love a good tie-in. What, no place for her at an Apple Store, with Loki-themed Apple Watches just waiting for eager consumers? Probably wouldn’t work with Loki’s retro futuristic aesthetic. But that’s a minor complaint.
More troubling is one aspect that ‘Loki’, even with all of its time-jumping couldn’t have predicted –– the more dubious (allegedly) aspects of Jonathan Majors’ personal life that complicate the experience of watching his work. His performance as Timely is good (it’s actually more entertaining in some ways than ‘Quantumania’s Kang), but it’s tough to separate what is going on legally from what is on screen.
Yet ‘Loki’s second season still represents one of the most inventive and entertaining examples of what Marvel’s team can do. Even with the connective tissue that is required to the rest of the MCU, this does a lot more than some more basic superhero stories and continues to proudly chart its own weird branch of the massive, linked universe.
Fans of Tom Hiddleston, Owen Wilson, Sophia Di Martino, the rest of the ‘Loki’ gang (and multiverses in general), get ready to be happy. Because the Marvel Disney+ series about the character is back in just a few days’ time.
Yet Season 1 screened back in 2021, so what if you’ve forgotten some of the pertinent details and need a refresher? Never fear, we are here to help. Like the Time Variance Agency, we will make sure you are on the right track (and we won’t prune you out of existence, either).
Created and run by Michael Waldron (who would end up spending more time in parallel dimensions when he was hired to re-write Marvel movie sequel ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’, ‘Loki’ picks up the story of Tom Hiddleston’s title character back at a time when he was very much more a villain than the heroic character he has become in the likes of ‘Avengers: Infinity War’.
You’ll recall that Loki spotted a chance to escape custody at the end of ‘The Avengers’ when heroes such as Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) travel back in time looking for the Tesseract. Instead of them getting it then, Loki grabs it and uses it to transport himself away.
But he is picked up by agents of the Time Variance Authority, where he has been deemed a dangerous “variant”, a chaotic version of himself that disrupts the timeline that the authority –– or so it claims –– is working to protect. A bureaucratic, retro-futuristic organization that exists outside of time and space, it gives Loki a choice: face being erased from existence due to being a 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 (Sophia Di Martino).
Sylvie, as mentioned, is a female Loki Variant. Targeted for “pruning” (AKA removing from the timeline), she’s been fighting back across time and space, looking to discover the truth behind the TVA.
She’s causing chaos to attract the organization’s attention and ends up crossing paths with our Loki.
The two actually start to fall for each other, realizing their innate connection. But after figuring they could hide in apocalypses (as Sylvie has been doing), their burgeoning relationship is interrupted when they are brought before He Who Remains (but more on him later) and ends up killing him, shoving Loki into a portal.
She will be back for Season 2, so we’ll find out what happens between the two Lokis. Let’s be honest: “it’s complicated” barely begins to encompass this one.
One of the first faces that any arriving prisoner sees is Miss Minutes, an animated clock who cheerily greets people. Voiced by Tara Strong, this mascot provides information –– but she’s also got a hidden agenda.
The authority is overseen by the “Timekeepers”, mysterious creatures represented by statues in a hidden chamber that some at the TVA see as godlike. As it turns out, that’s a giant lie crafted by He Who Remains (again, more later).
The Timekeepers are androids created to control the TVA and its employees, who, it is revealed, were not specially created to work there, but were in fact all variants themselves, with their memories wiped.
Mobius M. Mobius (Owen Wilson): An agent of the TVA who specializes in the investigations of particularly dangerous time criminals. He befriends Loki, and the two work the Sylvie case. But once he learns about his variant nature, he helps Loki and Sylvie battle his former employers.
Ravonna Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw): A former TVA Hunter known as A-23, who rose from the ranks to become a respected judge; she oversees the Loki variant investigation. An ambitious, fervent believer in the TVA’s mission, she’s forced to face hard truths about the organization. And when they are revealed, she vanishes into a portal in search of free will.
Hunter B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku): A high ranking Hunter of the TVA determined to stop the variant that has been killing Minutemen troops. She’s among those who believe the Timekeepers are gods.
Hunter C-20 (Sasha Lane): A TVA Hunter kidnapped and enchanted by Sylvie to reveal the location of the Timekeepers.
At one point, Loki is “pruned” and banished to an apocalyptic, ruined New York, and meets a host of other variants of himself, including Classic Loki (Richard E. Grant) who wears a comic-accurate costume and has more extensive illusionary powers than Hiddleston’s version.
There are various others, including Kid Loki (Jack Veal), Boastful Loki (DeObia Oparei) and, of course, Alligator Loki (himself), who we can all agree is the best Loki.
That is being complicated for Marvel by the allegations surrounding Majors’ personal life, but he is back for Season 2, playing Victor Timely, yet another Kang variant. He has been somewhat downplayed in the promos for the new season, but we’ll see how much he appears in the show itself.
‘Loki’ will launch with its first episode (of a planned six) on October 6th. Will the producers announce a third season at the end of the second? Only time will tell…
The reaction to Marvel’s most recent TV offering, ‘Secret Invasion’ (in which Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury tackles an uprising by dissatisfied members of the alien Skrull race) has been, it’s fair to say, somewhat muted. The reviews were not kind and the viewing figures (at least as far as Disney+ allows them to be known) were lackluster.
Marvel Studios (and Disney at large), then, will be keeping their corporate fingers crossed for bigger and better things from the return of ‘Loki’ to screens. And with Tom Hiddleston back as the title character for more chaos, our hopes are that this will deliver more solid entertainment. From the looks of the first trailer, it’s certainly promising.
This new season picks up in the aftermath of the shocking season finale when Loki finds himself in a battle for the soul of the Time Variance Authority. Along with Mobius (Owen Wilson), Hunter B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku) and a team of new and returning characters, Loki navigates an ever-expanding and increasingly dangerous multiverse in search of Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino), Judge Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), Miss Minutes (Tara Strong) and the truth of what it means to possess free will and glorious purpose.
Loki’s got more than just the TVA situation too, as following his trip to a parallel timeline, he’s now glitching in time and needs some help to sort that out. He and Mobius go to see mysterious new character OB, played by Oscar winner Ke Huy Quan.
‘Loki’ Season 2 will see with Loki and Mobius poking around into the past to learn more about Kang (Jonathan Majors), or the man who became He Who Remains, which hopefully brings a solution to the whole time-slipping situation too. Cue a trip to an old-timey fair, which seems to connect with the post-credits sting of ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’, with Majors turning up as ‘Victor Timely’. While Majors doesn’t appear much in the trailer, it does seem here that he will remain present in Season 2. Marvel is yet to comment on, or announce plans for, Majors’ ongoing role as Kang in the wake of his arrest and the abuse allegations against him.
With luck, the return of Di Martino’s Sylvie will also keep us guessing as to her real agenda (she’s pictured at one point in a McDonald’s uniform), while Miss Minutes is something of a bigger threat this time around –– literally.
‘Loki’ Season 2 will launch on Disney+ on October 6th. The streaming service has yet to announce how many episodes of the six-episode run will debut that day.
In this exclusive interview with Made in Hollywood, the stars of ‘Loki’ give some hints about the new series.
Tom Hiddleston shares where Loki is at the beginning of the story, and why he was interested in coming back to the character. His co-star Gugu Mbatha-Raw describes the Time Variance Authority, and Wunmi Mosaku joins her to share how they felt about being on their first Marvel set.
On the production side, head writer Michael Waldron talks about writing for Hiddleston’s portrayal of Loki, and director Kate Herron shares her rather unique strategy to get Marvel Studios to hire her on to the production.
Gemma Arterton is joined by Gugu Mbatha-raw, Penelopy Wilton, and Tom Courtenay in the upcoming directorial debut by Olivier Award-winner Jessica Swale.
From the official synopsis…
IFC Films invites you to screen the debut feature from Oliver award-winning director, Jessica Swale, and Variety’s Top Brit to Watch in 2019. Jessica brings to life the story of Alice, a reclusive writer, resigned to a solitary life on the seaside cliffs of Southern England while World War II rages across the channel. When she opens her front door one day to find she’s to adopt a young London evacuee named Frank, she’s resistant. It’s not long, however, before the two realize they have more in common in their pasts than Alice had assumed. Gemma Arterton, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Penelope Wilton, Tom Courtenay and up and comer Lucas Bond star in this intensely emotional story of love’s endurance in trying times.
Summerland will be in select theaters and VOD/digital platforms July 31, 2020.
As part of her production deal with Amazon, Viola Davis is giving new life to little seen indie “Fast Color.”
The film, which was written by Julia Hart and Jordan Horowitz and directed by Hart, follows three generations of black women, Ruth (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), her mother Bo (Lorraine Toussaint), and Ruth’s daughter Lila (Saniyya Sidney), all of whom have extraordinary powers.
It premiered to critical praise at SXSW in 2018, but never expanded beyond its limited release of 25 theaters. It’s getting some overdue love now that it’s on BluRay and DVD.
Hart and Horowitz will write the pilot and Hart will direct. Davis will be an executive producer with her JuVee Productions partner, Julius Tennon.
“Since the day we premiered at SXSW, there has been an incredible outpouring of grassroots support for this film” Hart said. “We couldn’t be more excited about the opportunity to continue living in this world, with these women, and can’t imagine better partners than Viola and Julius and Mickey and Pete and everyone at Amazon.”
“Our commitment at JuVee as artists is what fuels our imagination. We want to play. We want to challenge. We want to ask, “What if….,” said Davis and Tennon. “”Fast Color’ allows us to live in a world that fullfills all of the above. It’s a story and world that reminds us that not only do we have a soul, but we have extraordinary, unlikely women who fiercely protect it.”
Now The Hollywood Reporter has revealed the reported frontrunners who have tested or been considered for key roles in the supervillain film.
Warner Bros. will be making casting decisions within the next two weeks, THR reported, since filming is expected to start in early 2019, with Cathy Yan as director.
Deadline also added their two cents — seconding that Huntress, Rene Montoya, and Black Canary would be a part of Harley Quinn’s all-girl gang. “They take on Batman villain Black Mask, with the help of Cassandra Cain.”
According to @THR, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Justina Machado & Cristin Milioti have tested for Black Canary & Huntress for Cathy Yan’s BIRDS OF PREY pic.twitter.com/nuSDVlswrj
NEW: THR reports that Gugu Mbatha-Raw & Jurnee Smolett-Bell are reportedly being eyed for the role of Black Canary, with Janelle Monaè being said to also be up for the role #BirdsOfPreypic.twitter.com/LTuihjcxws
According to THR, two of the stars being considered are “Black Mirror” alumni Gugu Mbatha-Raw (“San Junipero”) and Cristin Milioti (“USS Callister”).
Mbatha-Raw is said to be in the running for Black Canary, along with Jurnee Smolett-Bell (“Underground”) and possibly Janelle Monae.
Cristin Milioti, also known from “How I Met Your Mother” and “Fargo,” is said to have tested or read for the role of Huntress. She’d be up against Margaret Qualley (“The Leftovers”) and Mary Elizabeth Winstead (“10 Cloverfield Lane,” “Fargo”). Deadline also added Sofia Boutella ( “The Mummy”) to the list of Huntress candidates.
For the role of Gotham City detective Renee Montoya, THR said Justina Machado (“One Day at a Time,” “Six Feet Under”) and Roberta Colindrez (“Vida,” “I Love Dick”) both tested.
THR said Warner Bros. is looking to cast Cassandra Cain — who took on the role of Batgirl for a while — as a 12-year-old girl. The character is of Asian decent in the comics, and they are looking to cast a young Asian actress in the role.
That’s a tough lineup to choose from. No one has asked for our feedback yet, but anytime you can get Mary Elizabeth Winstead in something, do it. Pair her with either Gugu Mbatha-Raw or Janelle Monae (or find a way to add both), plus Justina Machado and Margot Robbie, and we’re ready to go.
Earlier tonight Netflix debuted the trailer for “The Cloverfield Paradox,” the latest film in the loosely-connected J.J. Abrams-produced genre series that began with “Cloverfield” (celebrating its 10th anniversary this year!) and continued with the superb, wholly underrated “10 Cloverfield Lane” in 2016. Previously, the film was scheduled to be released this month and was later it was bumped back to April 20th. This was back when Paramount was putting the movie out. Now Netflix has taken over the distribution and instead it’ll be coming out tonight, right after the Super Bowl.
Just remember to tape “This Is Us.”
This is a huge move for the streamer and for the sci-fi film, which stars Alias”), so for Netflix to say, loud and clear, “turn your TV off and watch your streaming service” is bold as hell. It’s also super cool.
Take that,