The cast and crew of 'Loki' on the twists and turns of the Disney+ series
Tom Hiddleston, Owen Wilson, and the rest of the Loki cast talk to Yahoo Entertainment about the twists and turns that the new Disney+ series has in store for us.
Video Transcript
- How do you plead?
- Madam, a God doesn't plead. Look, this has been a very enjoyable pantomime, but I'd like to go home now.
ETHAN ALTER: "WandaVision" was about grief. "Falcon and the Winter Soldier" was about prejudice. What would you say "Loki" is about for you? What's one word that would define it for you?
TOM HIDDLESTON: Identity. Loki has such a complex identity. He's a many, many layered character. There's a lot of exterior charm and wit and charisma and a lot of interior pain and fragmentation. He's a magician. And he's a shape-shifter.
And so this idea of, if someone's constantly wearing masks or changing their shape, who are they, really? Who are any of us, really? This is a good question.
ETHAN ALTER: You're really the first Marvel director since the Russo brothers, the "Endgame," to really mess around with the Marvel timeline. How did you want this show to build on what was done in "Endgame," in that way, about our understanding of the MCU timeline?
KATE HERRON: The really interesting thing was, it was kind of building of what had been established and the rules. But then also, I know with like our writing team, where it was like making sure-- because we're creating this kind of new version of time, in the sense it's the TVA, and it's whole different rules.
So it's kind of like making sure we're paying homage to what's come before. But then also being like, OK, you've thought of things this way. Well, now, actually, here's another level of time traveling craziness to throw your way.
ETHAN ALTER: Now, Renslayer obviously has a very long history in the comics. She goes back to the '60s. How much did you go back, in terms of preparation? Did you go back and read all those early ventures and how does the comic surge parallel what-- the character you're playing?
GUGU MBATHA-RAW: Well, thankfully I got slightly let off the hook of having to go back for research, in a sense in that the way that we are approaching her journey in "Loki" is almost as an origin story for Renslayer. So it's almost pre all of the stuff.
ETHAN ALTER: So it definitely sounds like there are like, bigger plans. I mean, you're saying like, this is the origin story. There's more to come. So do you feel like you have some stuff coming down the pike for her that you're excited to play?
GUGU MBATHA-RAW: We shall see. I mean, I don't know. I don't know entirely. And I-- even if I did, I probably wouldn't be allowed to say, but-- but you know, it's definitely left at an interesting place.
ETHAN ALTER: Your big fight scene with Loki, when he's trying to get out, and then he was manipulating the time to make you rewind all the time, what was it like shooting that? How did you sort of prepare to do that and walking that whole scene?
GUGU MBATHA-RAW: That was fun. Like, the fight scene was really fun. I felt like a badass, like uh uh uh. And, um, I was a bit nervous to do it, to be honest, because I'm so scared of hurting people. And adrenaline makes you like, go faster, harder, stronger, sometimes. So I was very much aware of like, trying not to cross any boundaries and keep to what we had rehearsed.
Um, and then the kind of rewind, reset scene that was-- that was-- that was funny. I just felt like, so silly, because you have to kind of fall down these steps over and over again and freeze like, mid-fall and keep doing it. I mean-- and we did it like, I want to say, like, 20 times.
ETHAN ALTER: In the first episode is where he finds the drawer full of Infinity Stones and suddenly, these powerful objects are just rendered useless. Was that a fun scene for you to play, sort of having that--
TOM HIDDLESTON: Yeah, I love it when Marvel Studios is so brave about, sort of, zooming away from the specifics that the audience have been invested in and realizing there's something even more expansive. And then it makes you feel that the world is small, and there's still things you don't know.
It's so brave of them to pull the rug out from underneath that very established thing. This universe is getting bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger, with more surprises in store. That's for sure.
KATE HERRON: As a fan, I think I'd be like, what? Like, what are you doing? But I think, in a way, it's kind of great, right, because it completely sets the table again for like, who the TVA are. And what we thought was really powerful was actually not all that powerful to this organization.
So for me, the-- my next question is always going to be, OK, so like, what is the power? Like, you know, who are the timekeepers? And I think that, for me, was really exciting. And it's also kind of-- as the rug pulls under-- is pulled so from under us, it's also being pulled from under Loki, because he's like, wait a second. It's like paperweights. What the hell?
ETHAN ALTER: The other thing that really stood out to me in the first episode is where you're watching back Loki's life. It's like this is your life moment. It's interesting, because you've been playing this character now for 10 years. What was it like to experience that moment, watching yourself up to this point? What did it make you think as you were--
TOM HIDDLESTON: Yeah, well I just found it such a thrilling prospect in the writing. Literature is full of protagonists in stories who have to make peace with their past. And maybe their past is replayed for them in real time, and they have to understand, perhaps, their responsibility for their own mistakes. But it's quite unusual to have a similar thing, where you almost watch your future.
For Loki, it's particularly fascinating. But for any of us, if we were able to watch our future and see how it played out, how would that change the way we moved towards it? An integral part of the experience of being alive is that we don't know what's going to happen next. If we did, maybe we would behave differently. So I found that really interesting, is this idea of-- of how becoming more self-aware might affect the choices you make going forward.
OWEN WILSON: And you wonder, oh, are-- are people going to-- is this going to be able to sort of hold people's attention, because it's a long scene. But I think being able to sort of cut away to sort of me, presenting my case to him, which involves also showing him clips and things from his life, that hopefully will hold people's interest.
ETHAN ALTER: The first episode ended with you dropping that great bomb, that there are multiple Loki's out there, that we're going to be seeing. What was it like shooting that scene and getting to make that reveal?
OWEN WILSON: Well, that was one of my favorite things in the script. And-- and some of the other Loki's-- and I just think that's a, you know, such a great idea that-- that the series kind of tapped into and kind of exploring that and meeting some of these other guys. And yeah, if you think one Loki's challenging, imagine a whole team of them.
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