Marvel Studios and Disney+ just dropped the most comprehensive look yet at what the Loki series starring Tom Hiddleston has in store. And what it appears to have in store is a lot.
While the Loki show will no doubt have as many twists, turns, and tricks up its sleeve as its sneaky title character, here we see more of the general shape it seems the show will take. As has been hinted in past trailers and promotional material, it appears that after Loki is taken prisoner by the Time Variance Authority (TVA), he’s recruited by their leader Mobius M. Mobius (Owen Wilson) to try and help fix broken timelines.
Loki becomes a sort of TVA operative, though it also looks like at least at first he’s kept on a pretty tight leash during these undertakings. For example, we’ve seen him in promotional merchandise wearing what looks to be an official TVA agent jacket, but now we see in the trailer that it has VARIANT emblazoned across the back, meaning there’s still a distinction as to who he is and a warning about his very existence.
“We protect the proper flow of time,” Mobius’s voiceover says, and then we see a scene where he says to Loki, “You picked up the tesseract, breaking reality. I want you to help us fix it.”
Why would Mobius be involving Loki—especially this Loki, who is the Avengers-era “Loki variant” who was most recently a war criminal on Earth? Well, Loki questions the same, saying, “Why me?” And Mobius responds: “I need your unique Loki perspective.”
While the trailer shows many glimpses of the wild and varied “missions” it seems that Loki will undertake to visit different times and realities, one of the most interesting facets we see further developed in the trailer is the dynamic between Loki and Mobius. Mobius has government—er, time—bureaucrat written all over him, but he also seems to have intensely studied Loki’s history and seems wryly aware of exactly whose assistance he is employing. While Loki insists that he is always ten steps ahead, Mobius is unruffled.
In a great exchange, Loki says, “You can trust me,” and Mobius’s response is, “Loki, I’ve studied almost every moment of your life. You’ve literally stabbed people in the back like fifty times.” To which Loki tries, “Well, I’d never do it again!”
It’s nice to see Loki with a foil of a handler who isn’t impressed with his slipperiness but does appear to appreciate that he brings that “unique Loki perspective” and his abilities to the table. There also is a sharp comedic edge on display in much of the trailer alongside its dramatics that we can’t wait to see developed further.
While WandaVision took on a meta-sitcom format and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is perfecting the buddy formula, Loki would seem to be set up like a sort of supernatural procedural, with a new problem of the week for the authorities to solve. I wouldn’t worry too much about our favorite trickster god going too “time cop” on us, though. No doubt he’s going to try and go rogue plenty, and may succeed. But we also see Loki being asked to sign a stack of everything he’s ever said, which further points to the idea that he’s going to be informed of the character evolution undergone by the original timeline’s Loki before his death at Thanos’s hands. This may also impact his own character arc and tilt him toward being more helpful than harmful. (Maybe.)
All of the Marvel Disney+ shows to date have had extremely different looks and feels, and different creative teams generating them. Loki is written by Michael Waldron and directed by Kate Herron, and features an impressive and inclusive cast working with Hiddleston and Wilson. Here’s the official synopsis from Disney+:
Watch Loki—the imperious God of Mischief—who, after absconding with the Tesseract, is a fish-out-of-water when he lands in a world of trouble with the bureaucratic TVA (Time Variance Authority) in the brand-new trailer for Marvel Studios’ “Loki.” The all-new, original series debuts exclusively on Disney+ on June 11, 2021.
Marvel Studios’ “Loki” features the God of Mischief as he steps out of his brother’s shadow in a new series that takes place after the events of “Avengers: Endgame.” Tom Hiddleston returns as the title character, joined by Owen Wilson, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Sophia Di Martino, Wunmi Mosaku and Richard E. Grant. Kate Herron directs “Loki,” and Michael Waldron is head writer.
The Loki IMDb page has been mostly blank for months when it comes to who the rest of the cast is playing, but Marvel’s press photos included along with this release and the trailer shed some light. We finally see Mbatha-Raw in action—she appears to also work for the TVA as a character named “Judge Renslayer”—and we see Mosaku as a character billed in press pictures as “Hunter B-15.” We also see Loki sitting with a blonde woman who appears to be Di Martino in an alien world (does this mean she’s not playing Lady Loki? I’m still holding out hope that she’s Loki’s old friend, the sorceress Amora).
We’re still a ways away from Loki’s debut on June 11th, and we’ll no doubt learn a few more of his secrets before then. But I have a feeling this show is definitely going to try and stay ten steps ahead of all of our guesses and expectations.
Hunter B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku) and Mobius (Owen Wilson)
Judge Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw)
(image: Marvel Studios/Disney+)
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