‘Loki’ Directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead Say They Never Considered Killing Loki in Finale: ‘It Didn’t Feel Right’

WARNING: Spoilers ahead for the Season 2 finale of “Loki”

The “Loki” Season 2 finale has come and gone, inscribing Tom Hiddleston into the Marvel Cinematic Universe for all time, always — and more importantly, alive. According to directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, it was never going to end any other way for the reformed villain.

In the finale, now streaming on Disney+, Loki ends up sacrificing himself not only for his friends, but for all the possible timelines and dimensions in the MCU. As a result, he becomes the God of Stories, sitting at the center of Yggdrasil, the World Tree of Norse mythology that gives structure to the universe and supports the 9 realms of existence.

It’s decidedly a sacrifice, but maybe not the kind some people were expecting, considering how many times he’s already died in the MCU. For what it’s worth, Benson and Moorhead could have had Loki make the ultimate sacrifice (again) if they wanted to. They just really didn’t want to.

“We were told that we are allowed to do, to go wherever we needed to go with Loki,” Moorhead told TheWrap. “And if this ends it, then so be it. But it didn’t feel right to end it in a way that– I mean, the only way to end it is if Loki’s just dead, and if there’s no coming back from that. And that didn’t feel right either.”

He continued, “Because he had gone on such a long journey, that it didn’t feel like he just needed his comeuppance from his villain days or anything like that. And also, that’s a very simplistic morality anyways. So we wanted to end it in a place where it gives him exactly what he always wanted, but he also no longer wants it. And this is doing it in a way, the sacrifice is something that is unheralded, that he never gets to reap what he’s sown.”

And no, Moorhead doesn’t look at that as a cruel twist of fate, per se.

“I would say it’s not mean, I would say that it actually gave Loki a final redemption that we can all get behind and everything,” Moorhead said. “Everything terrible Loki ever did as a villain, we can now say yes, he’s exactly where he needs to be as a human. He’s not in prison, he’s not dead. However, he has had to go through an extraordinary trial and now is our Atlas.”

This ending for Loki is what actually drew the directing duo back to Marvel once again for this particular project (they previously worked on “Moon Knight”).

“Our first meeting with Tom [Hiddleston] and [executive producer] Kevin Wright, they pitched us this ending. And that is the thing that brought us, really the thing that finalized us getting involved with this project,” Benson explained. “That’s beautiful, that’s bold, that’s so bittersweet, so tragic, so satisfying. We want to be a part of that.”

Both seasons of “Loki” are now streaming on Disney+.

The post ‘Loki’ Directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead Say They Never Considered Killing Loki in Finale: ‘It Didn’t Feel Right’ appeared first on TheWrap.