Yeah, that’s probably it for Loki
Marvel hasn't made an official ruling, but star Tom Hiddleston is doing a whole lot of "full circle" talk about the Disney+ series
Aux News Loki
Although Marvel hasn’t said anything official yet, it’s sounding increasingly likely that the just-concluded second season of Disney+ TV series Loki will be its last. Both star Tom Hiddleston and series writer Eric Martin have given statements to press surrounding the show’s just-released second-season finale, expressing a sense of finality toward the story of a time-tossed version of the beloved Marvel villain, and his encounters with the mysterious Time Variance Authority.
Take, for instance, comments Hiddleston made on The Tonight Show last night, telling Jimmy Fallon and his audience that the show’s finale isn’t just the end of two seasons of TV, but “a conclusion to six films, and 12 episodes, and 14 years of my life.” Which sounds like the sorts of thing you say when you’re not necessarily fielding too many requests to put the horns back on and give another speech about “glorious purpose,” right?
Meanwhile, Martin, who’s both an executive producer and head writer for the series, gave an interview to CinemaBlend last week that, again, didn’t explicitly say “We’re absolutely not doing a third season,” but implied it about as much as it’s possible to. “We approached this as like two halves of a book,” Martin said. “Season one, first half. Season two, we close the book on Loki and the TVA. Where it goes beyond that, I don’t know. I just wanted to tell a full and complete story across those two seasons.”
That’s before we get into the text of the episode itself, which, without getting into spoilers, pretty effectively concludes the story of Loki (in a way that this reviewer, at least, found surprisingly satisfying). There’s also the fact that Loki getting a second season was a pretty weird outlier in the first place; Disney+ has always treated its Marvel shows more like miniseries than traditional TV, doing six-episode limited runs. Loki is the only one to have actually received a second season to date, even if the Moon Knight fans are still sniffing around for a possible continuation, and Kathryn Hahn’s WandaVision spin-off is still in the works.
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Hiddleston is too good of an actor to remain in the role of Loki forever, and the end of the TV show is an exceptionally fitting finale for him and the character he’s made his own.I’m excited to see what’s next for his career.
In the dozen years he’s been acting as Loki, he’s made 20 non-Marvel films.
It is so easy for Loki to be portrayed by an actor that this show has already done it.
Well its also OK for things to just be over. Its OK to tell a story and just finish it. Things don’t need to have 15,0000 continuations, sequels, series, spinoffs etc. Its perfectly fine for stories to have an end.
I had the absolute pleasure of seeing Hiddleston on Broadway in Pinter’s Betrayal in late 2019 (the last show I saw before covid shut the world down, but I digress). In a production that shone for so many reasons—the direction and staging were impeccable—Hiddleston stood out. On stage, he had a magnetic quality you couldn’t take your eyes off of, even when he wasn’t involved in the scene. He was part of a trio of very talented actors, rounded out by Charlie Cox and Hiddleston’s now-partner Zawe Ashton, and he still rose above. Every movement was considered and perfectly pitched. It was one of those rare moments when you realize you’re watching something truly special. It was a masterclass. (So is his Coriolanus, if you can get your hands on a copy. Breathtaking.) I can’t wait to see what he does next. Outside of the Marvel universe, he’s made some interesting choices. Some of those have paid off—The Night Manager, Only Lovers Left Alive—and some which have been misses—Kong: Skull Island, High Rise, I Saw the Light, Crimson Peak.* His film resume is pretty checkered outside of the MCU, but when he finds a film role that really suits him, he absolutely disappears into it. He seems to have figured out, post whatever that Taylor Swift thing was, that he wants to be an actor more than a celebrity, and I hope that approach leads to him getting some really interesting work. *While these were flops, I appreciate that outside of Kong they were all pretty high concept stuff. I do like that Hiddleston will take these risks. Any of those other three movies could have worked if they were better executed, and that’s more on the production/direction than it is on the actors.
Crimson Peak is fine as what it is – a meticulous tribute to the European gothic horror films of the 60s and 70s. It’s just that, next to Del Toro’s broader canon of unpredictably apeshit movies, it seems kind of… passe? Then again, I guess The Lighthouse demonstrated you can absolutely make a retro homage horror flick that’s also completely nuts.
Like I said elsewhere, the series has a definite beginning, middle and end. To do a third season would either undo that or be some weird epilogue or spinoff.
But I also think they were asked/forced to make two 6 episode seasons. Could have probably dropped a couple episodes worth of wheel spinning and made a tight 10 episode single season. Of course they’d then lose the opportunity to market it over 2-3 years.
I was fully expecting this to be a big thing about how the show was cancelled and it was another sign that the MCU is doomed, rather than obviously the endpoint they were working towards that they got to do as they wanted, so kudos for that.
I can still see a Loki movie showing the aftermath for Loki and his TVA crew after the Kang arc is completed and resolved. And while I do still really like all the Marvel movies despite all the criticisms as of late on recent fare, maybe it could also wrap up the franchise as a whole in some way.I’d like to see a strange reunion between Loki and Thor, as Thor knows Loki to be dead. Would be interesting to see his reaction to Loki having become essentially the garden keeper of Yggdrasil(as I interpret it). He did even say he knew Loki could be so much more than the God of Mischief in Ragnarok, so it’d be nice to see him being able to acknowledge his brother becoming so much more than during their time together.
I thought the way it ended made it very clear it was over. And, you know, the episode title being the same as the first kind of signals its a resolution of its initial thread.But that doesn’t mean the character isn’t going to appear again at some point. He’s become too popular for them to just abandon, obviously. He’ll show up again someday — it would be interesting to see his brother find out what really happened to him, for example…
Loki, season 3 probably won’t happen. But Loki, in a Marvel movie, is almost a certainty.Though…if it was the last of Loki forever, it did end perfectly: Loki, sitting on a throne, with glorious purpose. Just what he always wanted.Except if it was me, I’d have to ask “then what?” He just sits there? Doesn’t have to eat or sleep? I’d be bored after the first hour.
That’s Old Loki. The one who always has to be pampered, the center of attention, the one who camouflages as Odin, eating grapes watching actors stage a play showing how heroic he (Loki) was/is.New Loki has found a real purpose, he’s come to understand responsibility, he’s grown as a person (or, you know, god.) You can’t go and roll that back now, you’d be invalidating the entire TV show and all that happened in it. 😛
The Loki series gave the character growth rarely seen in a Marvel venue. From a petulant but charming villain to the self-sacrificing savior of the multiverse is a pretty huge step, and the series led us through it masterfully. I’m sad that this is probably the end, but it’s hard to imagine where the story might go from here.
Hear, hear!
It’s not like they haven’t “invalidated the entire TV show and all that happened in it” before; Multiverse of Madness did that to Wandavision, at least afaic.
How do you figure? The events of Wandavision are explicitly brought up in the movie. Wanda having the Necronomicon (which she aquired during WV) is a direct result of her transformation into the Scarlet Witch, and what happens during MoM.
Because Wandavision was itself about Wanda dealing, poorly, with her grief over the loss of Vision; and coming to terms with that and what she’d done. She literally ended the Hex voluntarily, functionally and knowingly ‘killing’ both her fake children and her fake husband, and freeing the clearly tormented townspeople. Her going from that to willing, large scale mass murder and the torture of a child just because she heard the non-existent voices of her fake kids feels as radically unearned as did Anakin’s ‘fall’ in Revenge of the Sith, and undoes any sense that she’d learned anything or moved on at all.
The book corrupted her. The book corrupts everything it touches, seemingly. Or well, did, up until Wanda destroyed them all, as it would seem.Anyway, I thought VW was a good show, it’s OK if you don’t like it, I wouldn’t hold that against you. 🙂
I’ve honestly pretty much liked all the shows to greater and lesser degrees (except for Secret Invasion, which was just… awful, and Moon Knight, which I haven’t watched yet); especially Wandavision, which hit a height I don’t think has really been matched other than maybe Loki; it is why the character turn in MoM was so frustrating to me.
Yes it’s certainly startling she turns out to be the villain (spoiler alert, sorry), but to me the reasoning why seems clear enough. You have a character with a history of mental illness reaching back to the original comics from what I understand, who goes through some extremely traumatic events in her life starting in her childhood, then is infused with infinity stone magic by Hydra scientists (probably not the nicest experience), and is forced to kill the love of her life to try and prevent half the life in the entire universe getting wiped out – and then watch him die a second time right in front of her (and have half the life in the universe wiped out anyhow) and she’s powerless to stop any of it.And then the book of superduper dark magic on top of everything, because the trauma she experienced didn’t stop with getting unsnapped after five years, it was still fresh like it had just happened – which it had, from her perspective.Oh, and the bit with the US gov’t cutting Vision apart and experimenting on the pieces etc. Probably didn’t help her overall mental wellness I would think.
Wanda didn’t take responsibility for her actions. Not only that, Monica literally told her it’s not a big deal and they should be thanking her for deciding to stop torturing people endlessly. So they used Monica to handwave the trauma that Wanda did.Then the show ended with Wanda literally picking up the most evil book in the world and deciding to go back to messing with powers far beyond her control.The arc of WandaVision was literally just Wanda wreaking havoc on innocent people for eight episodes, deciding to stop because she kind of feels bad, being told she shouldn’t feel that bad, and then stealing a big book of endless evil to learn all about the big, endlessly evil book.She definitely had an arc. She became self-aware that she’s powerful and entitled and decided to be powerful and entitled in secret until she could be even more powerful because of how entitled she is. The fact that people saw her in a cabin studying how to be evil so she wouldn’t have to sacrifice the human being she invented from scratch while torturing people, and that people think that was her being redeemed or absolved or penitent or rehabilitated is bizarre.
What Monica specifically says is “They’ll never know what you gave up for them” which admittedly is somewhat handwavey but isn’t absolving her of resonsibility for the pain she caused (something she acknowledges a couple of lines later); and yes, I will admit that I did find the finale unsatisfying in that the townspeople didn’t really get to properly confront her over what she’d done beyond some dirty glances as she walked away. The Darkhold was the only known source of instruction for a power she seems to acknowledge she doesn’t know enough about, and her only source for how Evil and Bad this book was, was a witch who had just copped to purposely fucking with her and trying to steal the power for herself.All that said, there is still a far, far cry between “I am a selfish person dealing poorly with grief” and “I am going to kill the shit out of a LOT of innocent people”, which is why I argue that her character turn from the Phase 3 films to MoM does not feel earned.
You mean like how Wanda went from all that character development in her show to “hahaha I’m kookoo bonkers wooby wooby woo!” in Multiverse of Madness?
That’s your interpretation, I don’t necessarily agree with it (spoiler alert: I don’t.)
He has all of time and space around him, so I’m sure he has something to watch.
He pulled a Doctor Strange Infinity War move where his then what is going to be to find the people he’ll need to end the multiversal war loop by putting an end to incursions.
He replaces his cosmic self with an illusion occasionally and pops out for a sandwich.
Nah, in about 40 years, he’s going to find the Dial of Destiny
Story wise with respect to the larger MCU, it really doesn’t make much sense for it to have a season 3. Loki ascended to the level of a cosmic entity. There needs to be very specific stories reasons for characters to interact with beings like that. It’d make little sense for every day people or super heroes doing run of the mill super hero stuff to have reasons to be engaged with him so that eliminates basically any kind of plot for a TV show. Loki is now more the kind of character that should show up in a big movie event if he were to appear again.
the only exception I can think of to this is What If?. It would make sense there for sure.
or just a variant Loki doing something else, This one sits the throne. But I feel like not all shows need to keep continuing, this one told its story, end it, make something new.
And then he can play Loki for ever! You’re a genius!
Currently what Loki did does not stop the multiversal war loop that creates He Who Remains so he’ll be the solution for Secret Wars but they could use season 3 to explain that solution in more detail.
I mean, I don’t know where it can go from there.
Good. Not everything needs to go on forever. In fact, almost no art needs to go on forever. Finish it and tell a new story.
ALOT of people can’t seem to handle that. I cannot stand the cancer people who think that things need to go on forever with endless sequels, spinoffs and series. There is nothing wrong with having a story and actually having an ending to that story, then just moving on from it.
I think there’s a good chance he shows up for a movie especially given the Kang of it all, but if not, it’s probably time much as I love Loki.
I was absolutely bawling while watching the series finale on Thursday. Just a well-done emotional cap to an excellent run that stands on its own. One of my favorite streaming shows ever.We’re talking about Doom Patrol, right?
While I loved the last episode of Loki, I’m pretty fucking pissed that no one is talking about Doom Patrol. Beautiful ending.
I’m talking about, well watching Doom patrol, mostly through the 3rd season, and it’s so fun. Though I still love the first season with the narrator/big bad/basically god. Though honestly may 2 favorites are Rita and Jane, mainly because it’s seeing the two actresses, April Bowlby and Diane Gurrero, in a different role. I know April mainly from two and half men, so seeing her as not the dumb bimbo is nice, and I know Diane from Orange is the new black so seeing her in this is delightful.
I was talking about Scavengers Reign
You and me both buddy!
It’s damn near inevitable that we’ll see some form of Loki again; whether it’s a variant or a new incarnation, or, in some not too distant future, a complete reboot of the Marvel IP with a whole new actor and characterisation. But whatever happens, I think Hiddleston can be proud of the work he did, and that his version of the character got a complete arc to play out.
I vote for Richard E. Grant’s Classic Loki.
I wish there’d been a variant of Loki who was a beautiful aquatic mammal. A glorious porpoise, if you will.
And that’s fine. Seemed like a worthy conclusion to me, although sad. But it makes sense.
I’d pay real money for every single MCU film going forward to have a regular mid credit scene and then an end credit scene of Loki on his throne slowly going mad.Until…
While I was hoping for a happy ending with Loki and Sylvie going off on adventures together, maybe visit Thor to let him know Loki is alive… But this is a good end for Loki.And not impossible for them to start again later on. I’m pretty sure OB & Casey are working on a solution to free Loki and control the infinite expanding time lines. Not to actually use it, but just because they can. So someone can come along and put it to use. Mobious & Sylvie being the most likely candidates to try and free Loki.Or a new bad guy…
Hard to imagine Thor and Loki don’t have some reunion sometime. Regardless, shout out to Hiddleston, who clearly loves and respects the role. We genre fans, especially us oldheads, lived tbrough Nimoy, Connery, Harrison (for Han, not Indy) and Duchovny all shitting on the roles that got them out of real jobs because they thought it was cool.Hiddleston went from a nobody to a possible James Bond and even got to be Mr. Swift for a time – and seems to have come out of it unscathed.Refreshing that he respects it
Loki’s powerset literally involves sending duplicates of himself, if they want him back its really easy to happen
The real Loki is dead by Thanos and the variant is now the Timeline God or whatever. We’ve probably seen the last of Hiddleston in the role.
“Disney+ has always treated its Marvel shows more like miniseries than traditional TV”“Always” is doing a lot of work here. Disney+ does not have a long history of second seasons for Marvel shows because it does not have a long history of anything for Marvel shows.
So…. Kid Loki in the Young Avengers now?
I was hoping so, too. They’ve gone from slowly adding Young Avengers characters over the last few years to literally having Kamala Kahn do Nick Fury cosplay and talking about “putting together a team,” so… On the other hand, they also played the characterization really differently in S1 of Loki, making Kid Loki a moody lil’ badass instead of the comics’ irrepressible scamp. So, maybe, but the dynamic would be really different.
McKelvie and Gillen’s Young Avengers is one of my favorite comic runs ever, so I just have to hold onto hope. Getting a clever, tricksy Loki back would be great though; this series had enough of emotional, sincere Loki.
With all the Variants they introduced, and with “our” Loki now the centre of the multiverse, it’s not like they couldn’t just introduce a new actor in the role to play a kind of Loki Classic. The Loki we knew keeps his character progression, but the MCU’s story needs a Loki, so the Multiverse gives it one. Or maybe Loki Who Remains creates one – a Kid Loki, to heal the wounds LWR left behind.Lots of ways they could have “a” Loki, without shitting on the ending they crafted for Hiddleston.
We’ve established there’s an afterlife for Gods who die in battle. The main version of him was killed by Thanos so he’s probably there with Jane and Sif’s arm.
I loved the season (series?) finale, and I wouldn’t want to see any of that undone just to get a Season 3 of Loki.
HOWEVER! A Season 3 of SYLVIE EXPLORES THE MULTIVERSE and occasionally teams up with other MCU characters who were-expecting-Tom-Hiddleston’s-Loki just sounds like a damn good time. 😀
Hiddleston couldn’t wait to get out the door. “Loki” might be back, but I’m betting it won’t be Tom Hiddleston.
Can’t say that I blame him. I can’t say whether he’s eager for it to be over or not, but I can see wanting to move on after such a long time. Fourteen years is a long time to do anything, and in a creative field you almost always look for new challenges. He’s got “fuck you” money now, so I’ll be happy to see what projects he chooses to spend his time on now that he’s less obligated to the MCU.
it’s an ending, but still has opportunity if they wish to continue. Even now there’s still hints of kid Loki and Female Loki, but more importantly the Loki who seduces Storm to wield Mjolnir.
Y’all were watching the same show I was, right?There can absolutely be more Loki. This was one of an infinite number of variants of Loki. So, unless someone comes up with a Prime-Rick-esque Weapon Too Cool for Another Name, there will be more Loki.
At the very least, THIS Loki will likely show up in some part of Secret Wars, right? Nice hiatus for Hiddleston until then?
Also, I’m sure this has been suggested, debunked, suggested again, and forgotten, but he’d make a pretty good James Bond, wouldn’t he?