Disney+’s upcoming Loki series is shaping up to be a deep-dive into the God of Mischief’s psyche. Although plot details have thus far been kept tightly under wraps, showrunner Michael Waldron revealed in a recent episode of The Writers Panel podcast that the show will be exploring Loki’s identity issues.
Potential spoilers ahead for the Loki Disney+ show.
“I think it’s the struggle with identity, who you are, who you want to be. I’m really drawn to characters who are fighting for control,” Waldron said on the podcast, per SYFY Wire. “Certainly, you see that with Loki over the first 10 years of movies, he’s out of control at pivotal parts of his life, he was adopted and everything and that manifests itself through anger and spite towards his family.”
The showrunner’s comments are vague enough that they could mean any number of things, but they could also be a clue towards Loki taking multiple, non-Tom-Hiddleston forms during the show. In the comics, the Asgardian has shown up as both a child and a woman, and it’s this latter variation (known as Lady Loki), who’s been rumored to appear in the series. While no one attached to the production has yet to confirm or deny her appearance, leaked photos from the set have shown actress Sophia Di Martino (whose role in the series is currently unknown) walking around in what appears to be a Lady Loki suit.
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This possible storyline ties in pretty well to what we know so far about the series, which seems to involve both time travel and the multiverse. Back in August, an article by Fandom Wire (unverified by Marvel) reported that the series “follows Loki after the events in Avengers: Endgame as the trickster uses the power of the Tesseract to travel throughout human history and change historical events,” possibly culminating in Loki ending up in the main timeline for Thor: Love and Thunder. Previously revealed official concept art also showed Loki gallivanting around in the ’70s, and with Waldron taking on writing duties for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, we can probably expect some cross-over weirdness there as well.
In addition to Hiddleston and Di Martino, Loki will star Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Richard E. Grant, and Owen Wilson. All three actors’ characters are playing currently unknown parts, although Variety reports that Grant will only appear in one of the six episodes currently planned for the series, which will be directed by Kate Herron (Sex Education).
Unfortunately, it looks like it’s going to be a while before we get an answer to any of this. While the show began preproduction in January and was slated for an early 2021 debut back in February, the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has led Disney to temporarily shut down production on all of its shows. There’s no word yet on when it might be released instead.
