Lokiseason 1

Loki
Season 1
Promotional poster
Starring	Tom Hiddleston Gugu Mbatha-Raw Wunmi Mosaku Eugene Cordero Tara Strong Owen Wilson Sophia Di Martino Sasha Lane Jack Veal DeObia Oparei Richard E. Grant Jonathan Majors
No.of episodes	6
Release
Original network	Disney+
Original release	June 9(2021-06-09)– July 14, 2021(2021-07-14)
Season chronology

The first season of the American television seriesLoki,based onMarvel Comicsfeaturing thecharacter of the same name,seesLokibrought to the mysteriousTime Variance Authority(TVA) after stealing theTesseractduring the events ofAvengers: Endgame(2019), and is forced to help catch a dangerous variant version of himself. It is set in theMarvel Cinematic Universe(MCU), sharing continuity withthe filmsandtelevision series of the franchise.The season was produced byMarvel Studios,withMichael Waldronserving ashead writerandKate Herrondirecting.

Tom Hiddlestonreprises his role as Loki from the film series, withGugu Mbatha-Raw,Wunmi Mosaku,Eugene Cordero,Tara Strong,Owen Wilson,Sophia Di Martino,Sasha Lane,Jack Veal,DeObia Oparei,Richard E. Grant,andJonathan Majorsalso starring.Lokiwas officially confirmed among the variousDisney+ series in developmentfrom Marvel Studios in November 2018, along with Hiddleston's involvement. Filming began in February 2020 inAtlanta, Georgia,but was halted in March due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.Production resumed that September and completed in December. The series takes place after the events of the filmAvengers: Endgame,in which an alternate version of Loki created a new timeline, diverging from the events ofThe Avengers(2012). The season has acrime thrillertone, and sets up the events of the MCU filmsDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness(2022) andAnt-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania(2023).

The first season premiered onDisney+on June 9, 2021, running for six episodes until July 14, as part ofPhase Fourof the MCU. It received positive reviews, with praise for the cast's performances, musical score, and visuals. Asecond seasonwas announced in July 2021.

Episodes

No. overall	No.in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
1	1	"Glorious Purpose"	Kate Herron	Michael Waldron	June 9, 2021(2021-06-09)
Lokiis arrested by theTime Variance Authority(TVA) when he creates a new timeline after escaping from theBattle of New Yorkwith theTesseractin 2012.The TVA resets the timeline, and this "variant" Loki stands trial in front of JudgeRavonna Renslayerfor crimes against the "Sacred Timeline". Loki blames the situation on theAvengers,who hadtraveled back in timeto 2012, but Renslayer says their actions were meant to happen unlike Loki's escape. AgentMobius M. Mobiustakes Loki to the Time Theater to review his past misdeeds and question his history of hurting people. He reveals that Loki, in his intended future, inadvertently causes the death of his adoptive motherFrigga.Loki attempts to escape, but gives up after realizing that the TVA's power exceeds that of theInfinity Stones.He returns to the Time Theater and watches more future events, including his own death at the hands ofThanos.He then agrees to help Mobius hunt another Loki variant, who was killing several TVA agents and stealing their timeline-resetting charges.
2	2	"The Variant"	Kate Herron	Elissa Karasik	June 16, 2021(2021-06-16)
Loki joins a TVA mission to the site of an attack by "The Variant" in 1985Oshkosh, Wisconsin,where he stalls and attempts to bargain his way into meeting theTime-Keepers,who the TVA claims created them and the Sacred Timeline. Renslayer objects to Loki's further involvement, but Mobius convinces her to give him another chance. Loki researches TVA files and theorizes that the Variant is hiding near apocalyptic events where their actions do not affect the timeline. Loki and Mobius confirm this possibility by visitingPompeii in 79 AD,before deducing that the Variant is hiding during ahurricanein 2050Alabama.There, they are ambushed by the Variant whoenchantsseveral locals and TVA agentHunter B-15.The Variant reveals herself to be a female version of Loki and rejects his offer to overthrow the Time-Keepers together. She sends the stolen reset charges to various points along the Sacred Timeline, which activate and create numerous branched timelines that throw the TVA into disarray. She teleports away, and Loki follows her.
3	3	"Lamentis"	Kate Herron	Bisha K. Ali	June 23, 2021(2021-06-23)
With the TVA distracted, the Variant arrives at their headquarters and attempts to find the Time-Keepers, but is followed and confronted by Loki. They are attacked by Renslayer, and Loki uses aTemPadto teleport them both to 2077Lamentis-1,a moon that is about to be crushed by a planet. The TemPad runs out of power and is magically hidden by Loki. The Variant, who goes bySylvie,agrees to work with Loki to charge it. They sneak aboard a train bound for the ark, an evacuation spaceship that could recharge the TemPad, but Loki gets drunk and draws attention. This leads to a fight with guards who throw him off the train. Sylvie follows him, only to find the TemPad broken. The duo continue on foot, intending to commandeer the ark so they can escape before Lamentis-1 is destroyed. On the way, Sylvie reveals that the TVA's workers are actually variants of people from Earth. Loki and Sylvie fight their way through guards and a crowd of people attempting to board the ark, but meteors from the oncoming planet destroy it before they can board.
4	4	"The Nexus Event"	Kate Herron	Eric Martin	June 30, 2021(2021-06-30)
Sylvie tells Loki that she escaped from the TVA as a child. They form a romantic bond, which creates a unique branched timeline and alerts the TVA to find and arrest them before Lamentis-1 is destroyed. Mobius leaves Loki in atime loopof a bad memory he has ofSifwhile Sylvie unlocks B-15's memories to prove that B-15 is a variant. Renslayer tells Mobius that C-20 died from a mental breakdown, but Mobius finds a recording of Renslayer interrogating a mentally sound C-20, who insists that the TVA workers are all variants. Mobius frees Loki from the time loop, but Renslayer confronts them and has Mobius "pruned". Renslayer takes Loki and Sylvie to the Time-Keepers, who order Loki and Sylvie to be deleted. With B-15's help, Loki and Sylvie defeat Renslayer and the Time-Keepers' guards. Sylvie beheads one of the Time-Keepers, but discovers they areandroidsbefore a recovered Renslayer prunes Loki. Sylvie overpowers Renslayer and demands the truth. In amid-credits scene,Loki awakens surrounded by severalother Loki variants.
5	5	"Journey into Mystery"	Kate Herron	Tom Kauffman	July 7, 2021(2021-07-07)
Renslayer tells Sylvie that when Loki was pruned, he was sent to the Void at the end of time, from which nothing has ever returned. They deduce that the TVA's true creator is hiding beyond the Void. TVA mascotMiss Minutesstalls for time until TVA troopers surround Sylvie, who prunes herself and soon meets Mobius in the Void. After interrogating B-15, Renslayer plans to reach the TVA's true creator. Meanwhile, the other Loki variants tell Loki that a massive cloud-like creature calledAliothdestroys everything in the Void. After encountering a second Loki group that devolves into infighting,Classic Lokihelps Loki,Alligator Loki,andKid Lokiescape. They come across Mobius and Sylvie, and Mobius returns to the TVA using a TemPad that Sylvie brought with her. Sylvie attempts to enchant Alioth while Loki distracts it, but they fail until Classic Loki sacrifices himself, creating an illusion ofAsgardto draw Alioth's attention. Loki and Sylvie successfully enchant Alioth together, and the creature shows them the way to a citadel beyond the Void.
6	6	"For All Time. Always."	Kate Herron	Michael Waldron & Eric Martin	July 14, 2021(2021-07-14)
Renslayer leaves on a mission to find "free will" after Miss Minutes gives her information from the TVA's creator, "He Who Remains".B-15 proves to TVA troopers that they are variants by showing them a Renslayer variant who is a school vice-principal. Meanwhile, in theCitadel at the End of Time,He Who Remains tells Loki and Sylvie that he ended a multiversal war between his variants by using Alioth to destroy alternate timelines and created the TVA to maintain this peace. As he has grown weary, he offers them a choice: kill him and risk another multiversal war or replace him in overseeing the TVA and a singular timeline. Sylvie wants to kill him, but Loki pleads with her to stop. They kiss, but Sylvie sends Loki back to TVA headquarters. She ultimately kills He Who Remains, unleashing amultiversewith alternate timelines that the TVA cannot prune. At TVA headquarters, Loki warns Mobius and B-15 about He Who Remains' variants, but they do not recognize him and Loki sees that a statue of one of the variantshas replaced statues of the Time-Keepers.

Cast and characters

• Tom HiddlestonasLoki:
  TheAsgardiangod of mischief andThor's adopted brother, based on the Norse mythological deity of thesame name.This is an alternate, "time variant" version of Loki who created a new timeline inAvengers: Endgame(2019) beginning in 2012.Because of this, he has not gone through the events ofThor: The Dark World(2013) orThor: Ragnarok(2017), which reformed the previously villainous character before his death inAvengers: Infinity War(2018).Hiddleston expressed interest in returning to the role in order to explore Loki's powers, particularly hisshapeshifting,which plays into the series' exploration of identity.Loki's sex in the series is denoted by theTime Variance Authorityas "fluid",referencing the character'sgenderfluidityinMarvel Comicsthat had previously been speculated on for the MCU given his shapeshifting ability.Waldron said he was aware of how many people identify with Loki's genderfluidity and were "eager for that representation".The season also reveals Loki asbisexual,becoming the first major queer character in the MCU,and also explores more of Loki's magical abilities, such as histelekinesisand energy blasts.
  • Hiddleston also portraysPresident Loki,another variant of Loki who commands an army and is at odds with Kid Loki.Hiddleston called President Loki "the worst of the bad bunch", describing him as "the least vulnerable, the most autocratic and terrifyingly ambitious character who seems to have no empathy or care for anyone else".
• Gugu Mbatha-RawasRavonna Renslayer:
  The former TVA Hunter A-23 who rose from the ranks to become a respected judge; she oversees the Loki variant investigation.DirectorKate Herroncompared both Mbatha-Raw and Renslayer to chameleons, and said Renslayer was always "trying to dance the line" with Mobius of being both his superior and his friend. Herron added that Mbatha-Raw brought a warmth to Renslayer, while also channeling her pain.Lokiexplores the origins of Renslayer, which predates the character's appearances in the comics, and Mbatha-Raw enjoyed being able to start "something fresh" with the character.Mbatha-Raw called Renslayer "incredibly ambitious" and felt there was the "ultimate personality clash" between her and Loki. She continued that Renslayer has "a lot on her shoulders" and has to make "morally ambiguous choices", which forces the character to keep secrets and build up layers.Waldron believed that Renslayer had "the making of a very complex villain".
  • Mbatha-Raw also portrays Rebecca Tourminet, avice-principalat a school inFremont, Ohio,in 2018.Learning that there were different variants of Renslayer in different times was "mind blowing" to Mbatha-Raw.
• Wunmi MosakuasHunter B-15:A high ranking Hunter of the TVA determined to stop the variant that has been killing Minutemen troops.
• Eugene CorderoasCasey:A TVA receptionist.Cordero also portrays Hunter K-5E in the new TVA seen at the end of the season.
• Tara StrongvoicesMiss Minutes:
  The animatedanthropomorphicclock mascot of the TVA.After being created solely to introduce the TVA, the writers found more ways to include Miss Minutes in the season since they found her to be a fun character.Miss Minutes has a "protective" relationship to He Who Remains, with Strong believing she understands "how important her role is and how important it is to the universe".
• Owen WilsonasMobius M. Mobius:
  An agent of the TVA who specializes in the investigations of particularly dangerous time criminals.Marvel StudiospresidentKevin Feigenoted that the character is similar to Wilson in that he is unfazed by the MCU;Hiddleston helped Wilson prepare for the role by explaining and showing him moments from the MCU films, which Wilson felt was useful for when Mobius interviews Loki in the season.Wilson and Herron examinedGood Will Hunting(1997) as inspiration for Mobius being a mentor and therapist for Loki who still pushes him.
• Sophia Di MartinoasSylvie:
  A variant of Loki who is attacking the "Sacred Timeline" and has enchantment powers.She does not consider herself to be a Loki, using the name "Sylvie" as analias.While Sylvie was inspired bySylvie Lushton / EnchantressandLady Lokifrom the comics, she is a different person with a different backstory from those characters as well as Hiddleston's Loki.Di Martino said Hiddleston had "looked after" her and gave her advice on playing the character,while she did her own research and preparation for the role.Di Martino kept her regional accent for Sylvie, in order to not sound "too posh or too well spoken" to help reflect the life Sylvie had lived.Hiddleston felt Di Martino incorporated "certain characteristics" he uses for Loki to portray Sylvie, while still making the character "completely her own".Herron believed that Sylvie dealing with her pain put her in a similar headspace as Loki was inThor(2011).Di Martino looked to the fight scenes ofAtomic Blonde(2017) to create Sylvie's fighting style, calling her a "street fighter" with more of a brawler fighting style, compared to Loki's "balletic" style.An extensive backstory for the character was written by series' writer Elissa Karasik, with Waldron hopeful some of the material could be featured in the second season.Cailey Flemingportrays a young Sylvie.
• Sasha Laneas Hunter C-20: A TVA Hunter kidnapped and enchanted by Sylvie to reveal the location of the Time-Keepers.
• Jack VealasKid Loki:A young variant of Loki who created a Nexus event by killing Thor and considers himself the king of the Void.
• DeObia OpareiasBoastful Loki:A Loki variant who makes wild exaggerations about his accomplishments.
• Richard E. GrantasClassic Loki:
  An old Loki variant who faked his death to escape being killed byThanosand decided to live his life in seclusion until he became lonely.Classic Loki has the ability to conjure larger, more elaborate illusions than Loki.
• Jonathan MajorsasHe Who Remains:
  A scientist from the 31st century who ended the first multiversal war by destroying "evil variants" of himself, and created the TVA to prevent a new multiverse from forming and to keep his variants from coming back into existence.He is an original creation for the series, inspired by a separate comic book characterof the same nameas well as the characterImmortus.Describing He Who Remains as a "very charismatic sociopath", Waldron did not show how evil the character can be since much of his role is trying to convince others that his variants are worse than him.Majors talked with Herron and Marvel Studios about finding the psychology of the character, since He Who Remains has been in isolation and running the TVA for so long. Herron added that they tried to find "that fine line between the extrovert and the introvert of that character and how does he show that he's been living on his own".Majors utilized his classical clown training for the part, and believed that he smiled more as He Who Remains than any of his other roles combined.Additionally, he was inspired byThe Wizard of Oz(1939),Sunset Boulevard(1950),Citizen Kane(1941), andWilly Wonka & the Chocolate Factory(1971) for his portrayal, believing He Who Remains was the "archetype of the wizard and what happens to him when he gets bored... [a]nd he becomes a trickster".
  • Majors also voices the "mindless android"Time-Keepers,in a reference toThe Wizard of Ozwhere they are theWizard.Majors was shown the designs of each Time-Keeper and provided various options for each voice.

Neil Ellice recurs in the season as TVA Hunter D-90,whileJaimie AlexanderandChris Hemsworthhave uncredited appearances asSifand the voice ofThrog,respectively.

Production

Additional production information and episode-specific content can be found at each episode's article.

Development

Hiddleston promoting the series at the 2019San Diego Comic-Con

In November 2018,DisneyCEOBob Igerconfirmed that a series centered onLokiwas in development forDisney+fromMarvel Studiosand thatTom Hiddlestonwas expected to reprise his role fromthe Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films.Michael Waldronwas hired ashead writerand executive producer of the series in February 2019, and was also set to write the first episode.Waldron felt the series was an opportunity for "chaos and fun", such as connecting Loki to the story ofD. B. Cooper,and his pitch to Marvel was to create a "big, crazy, fun time adventure" that would explore a new corner of the MCU and do something unexpected in each episode that would "blow up" the audience's ideas of what the series is.Waldron had assumed the audience was expecting the show to be similar toQuantum Leap,with Loki influencing historical events.Kate Herron,a fan of Loki, prepared a 60-page document for her pitch to be the series' director, feeling that a display of passion for the character would differentiate her from more experienced directors that were being considered. After developing her pitch during several interviews overZoomwith Marvel Studios executivesKevin R. WrightandStephen Broussard,the London-based Herron was flown toBurbankfor a meeting with top executives including Feige,Victoria Alonso,andLouis D'Esposito.Wright believed Herron's pitch had a "complete vision" of how to take the ideas for the series and turn them into something "wholly unique" to the MCU.In August 2019, Feige met with Herron in London to offer her the job as director for the series. Within 48 hours, she flew to New York to meet Hiddleston and discuss the character with him, and then went on to Disney'sD23 Expoevent where she was announced as director and executive producer.Part of Herron's agreement to join the series was ensuring there was gender parity amongst the crew, particularly with the department heads.Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinerthad also been approached to direct the season, but opted to pursue their own film project,Everything Everywhere All at Once(2022), which also dealt with multiversal concepts.

After Waldron signed on to write the MCU filmDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness(2022) in February 2020, writerEric Martinwas promoted to handle the day-to-day needs of the series including being the lead writer on set, with Waldron and Martin later collaborating on any rewrites for the series.The first season consists of six 40- to 50-minute episodes,equaling 280 minutes total.In addition to Waldron and Herron, executive producers for the series include Feige, D'Esposito, Alonso, Broussard, and Hiddleston.The season sees an alternate version of Loki brought to the mysteriousTime Variance Authority(TVA) to help fix the timeline and stop a greater threat, ending up trapped in a crime thriller of his own making, traveling through time and altering human history.

Writing

Elissa Karasik,Bisha K. Ali,Eric Martin,and Tom Kauffman served as writers for the season,with Jess Dweck also assisting,working for 20 weeks to create the season's scripts. Waldron found this period challenging because he also had to write thepilot episode,which is normally done in a separate development period before additional writers are hired, to establish the world of the series while conceiving story elements for the rest of the episodes.The basic structure of the season was determined in the first three weeks of work, knowing the first episode would see Loki interrogated, the second having "the police work" withMobius M. Mobius,the third would see Loki and his female variantSylvieon Lamentis, the fourth had "the conspiracy coming undone", the fifth would take place in the Void or "some form of it", and the final episode would be at the Citadel at the End of Time.

The season takes place afterAvengers: Endgame(2019), which saw Loki steal theTesseractduring the 2012 events ofThe Avengers(2012) and unwittingly create an alternate timeline from the main MCU films.In the season, this"time variant" of Lokitravels through time and alters human history,with the season exploring the questions "Where did Loki go after he picked up the Tesseract? Could Loki ever make a friend? [W]ill the sun ever shine on him again?".Exploring alternate timelines and the multiverse allowedLokito introduce versions of other MCU characters in addition to other versions of Loki.Waldron also hoped to explore more complex character questions such as what makes a person "truly good or truly bad",and what makes a hero, a hero, or a villain, a villain.He added that the season's setting in an alternate timeline meant it did not have to deal with the "immediate grief and aftermath" ofEndgameand could instead "blaze a little bit of a new trail into a new corner of the MCU", which differentiates it from Marvel Studios' previous two Disney+ seriesWandaVisionandThe Falcon and the Winter Soldierthat are set shortly afterEndgame.

Waldron's pitch for the season was to create "a big, crazy, fun time adventure" that would explore a new corner of the MCU,something Herron agreed with.This included introducing theTime Variance Authority(TVA),an organization that monitors the various timelines of theMultiverse.Feige and Broussard had hoped to introduce the TVA into the MCU for years, but the right opportunity did not present itself untilLoki.The introduction of the TVA convinced Hiddleston to make the series.Waldron felt the organization was fun because it presents something as "remarkable" as time travel as "soulless" and bureaucratic.Herron infused the season's depiction of the TVA with details and knowledge from her time as atemp worker,and the writers added "fun flourishes of discontinued things" from the past that the TVA would be able to access such as drinks from the 1990s likeJostaandBoKu.The hierarchy of the TVA and its "inner workings" are explored, withThe Hudsucker Proxy(1994) a reference for Herron on the hierarchy.

Our approach with time travel was the philosophy basically that time is always happening. So there are infinite instances of time always occurring at once. So you and I are having this conversation right now. There's another instance of us having this conversation 10 seconds ago. There's another instance of time of us having this conversation 10 seconds in the future. Generally, those three instances—you could literally say they're all different universes in a way[,] different timelines—are all the same. There are minute little fluctuations in each instance of time... different permutations and instances [always] happening. The TVA has their own barometer, their own gauge of what constitutes a deviation from the baseline, the way it's supposed to go [to produce] He Who Remains... If you zoomed in on the timeline, it wouldn't necessarily look like a straight line. It might look like almost the intertwined strands of a rope fluctuating and spiking here and there. When it becomes a problem for the TVA is when, according to their own rules, when could something branch off in a way that it could actually produce a new timeline that could produce a new version of He Who Remains? That is the practical thing that they're guarding against.

—Head writer Michael Waldron explaining the series' approach to time travel, the multiverse, and the mission of He Who Remains and the TVA to Matt Singer ofScreenCrush

The writers worked to conceive how time travel works at the TVA to ensure the audience would be able to easily grasp the concept and rules, expanding upon the method that was introduced inAvengers: Endgame.Waldron felt it was important to make this logic air-tight because, being a weekly series, the audience would have a week between each episode to "pick this apart".Speaking to the locations visited in the season, Waldron hoped to subvert the audience's expectations of Loki appearing at various monumental events in history, instead choosing to go places the audience knows "but didn't know well and maybe might be exciting to see".

Waldron felt that exploring the TVA's perspective on time and reality would help examine Loki's struggle with identity.He noted that the character had been out of control at pivotal parts of his life throughout the MCU films,and the TVA's place working with different timelines would take him further out of his comfort zone. Waldron explained that the nature of the work done by the TVA made the organization "uniquely suited to hold up a mirror to Loki and make him confront who he is and who he is supposed to be".Hiddleston also felt the season was about identity, as well as the difficulty of self-knowledge and self-acceptance,and "integrating the disparate fragments of the many selves that [Loki] can be", pointing to the series' logo, which features the "Loki" title shifting through various fonts, as an indication of this.As well, Hiddleston believedLokiwas about the value of time and what it is worth to a person.Broussard stated that in addition to the time travel element, the season would have a "man-on-the-run quality to it",with Waldron adding that there was an unexpected science fiction quality to the season,which also explores mysterious conspiracies and bending reality.Lokialso has murder mystery thriller elements.Love stories are also a part of the season, with Waldron highlighting the platonic love story between Loki and Mobius that is similar to the one between the characters Carl Hanratty and Frank Abagnale Jr. inCatch Me If You Can(2002).The season also sees Loki fall in love with Sylvie. This was a large part of Waldron's pitch for the series, noting they were uncertain if portraying Loki falling in love with another version of himself was "too crazy". He continued notingLokiwas "ultimately about self-love, self-reflection, and forgiving yourself" and it "felt right" for the series to be the character's first "real love story".

Waldron said the season was structured as individual short stories rather than a six-hour film split into episodes, comparing his approach to the seriesThe LeftoversandWatchmen.The seriesMad Menwas a philosophical and aesthetic inspiration forLoki,since Waldron believed it was a good example of a "rich character study" which is what he was aiming for inLoki.Other inspirations includeBefore Sunrise(1995),Catch Me If You Can,Quentin Tarantinofilms,David Fincherfilms likeSeven(1995) andZodiac(2007),The Silence of the Lambs(1991),Toy Story(1995),Armageddon(1998),the seriesLost,and the seriesRick and Morty(which Waldron was a writer on).Lokidoes not adapt a particular storyline from the comics, despite various comic references appearing.The Kid Loki story inJourney into Mystery,written byKieron Gillen,was an inspiration to Waldron because it explored the character's humanity in a vulnerable space that is only possible with a child (and not necessarily because there is a child version of Loki in the season).

Feige stated in November 2019 that the season would tie-intoDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,but ahead of the season's premiere he would not reconfirm this or whether the season would tie in with any other MCU projects.However, he did say the season would be "tremendously important" and would "lay the groundwork" for the future of the MCU, having more impact on the MCU thanWandaVisionorThe Falcon and the Winter Soldierdid.Waldron noted that, as with all MCU properties, the aim was forLokito have "wide-reaching ramifications" across the franchise.He collaborated closely withJeff Loveness,the writer of the MCU filmAnt-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania(2023), since that film deals with theQuantum Realmand is closely tied to the multiverse.As well, Ali became thehead writerof the Marvel Studios seriesMs. Marvel(2022).The "man behind the curtain" of the TVA is revealed to beHe Who Remains,a variant of theQuantumaniacharacterKang the Conqueror.Jonathan Majorsportrays both roles,and Waldron felt it made "so much sense" to introduce Majors in the season since Kang is a "time-traveling, multiversal adversary" and thought to be the "next big cross-movie villain".Marvel Studios was not initially planning to have "The Multiverse Saga",which comprisesPhase Four,Phase Five,andPhase Six,revolve around Kang, but decided to after seeing Majors' performance in the season finale and thedailieswhile filmingQuantumania.

The finale also sets up the events ofDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,and elements ofSpider-Man: No Way Home(2021).Broussard and Wright also met withBrad Winderbaum,executive producer of the animatedWhat If...?series andWandaVisionco-executive producer Mary Livanos to establish a "rule book" regarding the multiverse, its branch timelines, and nexus events.Chancellor Agard ofEntertainment Weeklysaid that, while some MCU properties "have dealt with the fallout from previous entries", none have ever "attempted something so ambitious like this, in which several movies are dealing with a problem created by one thing".

Casting

With the November 2018 announcement of the series, Hiddleston was expected to reprise his role as Loki,with his involvement confirmed in February 2019 byWalt Disney StudioschairmanAlan F. Horn.In September 2019,Sophia Di Martinowas cast in the "highly contested" role of Sylvie, a female variant of Loki.Waldron wanted to cast an actress in the role that matched the energy that Hiddleston brought to Loki, and described Di Martino as an accomplished British actress with not much familiarity to U.S. audiences whose prior work had "blown [him] away".In January 2020,Owen Wilsonjoined the cast as a "prominent character",later revealed to beMobius M. Mobius,withGugu Mbatha-Rawcast the following month as the female leadRavonna Renslayer,also said to be a "prominent character".

In March 2020,Richard E. Grantwas cast as Classic Loki, reportedly for a single episode of the series.That September, Jonathan Majors was cast as Kang the Conqueror for the filmAnt-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,with executives at Marvel Studios,QuantumaniadirectorPeyton Reed,Waldron, and Herron all involved in the casting since Majors was set to first appear inLokias a variant of Kang called He Who Remains.When casting for the role, Waldron hoped to find someone "charismatic and magnetic" who would draw audiences in with the part, as he does with Loki and Sylvie in the series.Marvel Studios were eager to work with and cast Majors after seeing his performance inThe Last Black Man in San Francisco(2019).Though this variant is not Kang, Herron noted that the series "sets the table for [his] future outings" and called it "a massive responsibility and privilege" to introduce the character.Sasha Lanewas also revealed to have been cast as Hunter C-20 by the end of the month.In December,Wunmi Mosaku's casting was revealed,with Mosaku playing Hunter B-15.

In April 2021,Eugene Corderowas revealed to be appearing in the series asCasey,and later Hunter K-5E,while voice actressTara Strongwas revealed to be voicing Miss Minutes with the series' premiere.Strong, who had to audition for the role, originally created three versions of the character to present to the creative team: one where she did the character with an accent, one that was "a little bit more A.I." and "Siri-like ", and one that had some more emotion.Jack VealandDeObia Opareialso star as the Loki variantsKid Lokiand Boastful Loki, respectively.

Hiddleston also portraysPresident Loki,another variant of Loki who commands an army and is at odds with Kid Loki,Mbatha-Raw also portrays Rebecca Tourminet, avice-principalat a school inFremont, Ohio,in 2018,and Majors also voices the "mindless android"Time-Keepers.Neil Ellice recurs in the season as Hunter D-90.By December 2020,Jaimie Alexanderwas reported to be reprising her role asSifin the series from pastThorfilms;she makes an uncredited cameo appearance in the season.Chris Hemsworth,who portraysThorin the MCU, also has an uncredited cameo in the series providing voiceover forThrog.

Design

TheAtlanta Marriott Marquis(top) was used to portray the Time Variance Authority,which helped create the visuals of infinity that Herron was drawn to from the comics (bottom).

Herron worked with costume designer Christine Wada to create costumes that were "an outer reflection of the inner story" and would reflect the "wear and tear" throughout the series. Loki has a multitude of costumes in the series that reflect his journey.Mobius' look in the series is meant to resemble Marvel Comics editorMark Gruenwald,who was Marvel's "top continuity expert", as each member of the TVA in the comics is meant to be a clone of Gruenwald.Herron had initially imagined Mobius to have a scruffy look, but she and Wilson decided that it was not working. Wilson remembered a time he was onSaturday Night Livewith silver hair and felt that would be an interesting direction to take the character; that ended up being part of the character's look.Di Martino noted Sylvie's "slightly disheveled" costume and broken horn headband were meant to help reflect the life she has had,with the costume and headband being similar to theLady Lokidesign that appears in theLoki: Agent of Asgardcomic series.Wada added concealed zippers to Di Martino's costume to allow her to breastfeed on set since Di Martino began work on the season four months after giving birth.

For the design for the TVA, Herron pulled visual inspiration from the filmsMetropolis(1927),Blade Runner(1982), andThe Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy(2005), and theBrutalist architectureof southeast London to mix with the "midwest style" of the seriesMad Men.She also looked to the "retro-futuristic" visuals ofBrazil(1985). From the comics, Herron was drawn to "these amazing images of desks going on into infinity" to incorporate into the TVA design.Production designer Kasra Farahani had similar inclinations as Herron for the design of the TVA, separately feelingBrazilwould be a good inspiration since that film is "like this big bureaucracy crushing the individual". As with the Brutalist architecture Herron was drawn to, Farahani also looked to Soviet-influenced Eastern European midcentury modernism as well as American midcentury modernism for "the skinning, the palette, and the whimsical patterns" inside the TVA.Some parts of the TVA are constructed from the same stone that makes up the Citadel at the End of Time.The goal for Farahani was to create a space that "you can't tell immediately if this is a warm and friendly place or if it's a place that wants to destroy you".

The TVA includes "elaborate ceilings", with Farahani working alongside cinematographerAutumn Durald Arkapawto incorporate lighting into them; when Arkapaw shot from a low angle, it produced "beautiful graphic frames with dynamic shapes in almost every background". Farahani described the technology of the TVA as if "analog technology never stopped and digital technology never happened", with the analog technology getting "more and more sophisticated"; this helped with the anachronistic feel of the organization.The various screens in the TVA do not feature color, instead having a monochromatic, 8-bit digitized look. Much of the technology was custom built from old televisions and computers that were combined with "disparate, other random pieces of tech",while the TemPads were inspired by calculator watches and their interfaces inspired by theSuper Nintendo Entertainment SystemandGame Boy Camera.The world outside the TVA offices is depicted as an infinite city with inspiration fromMetropolisand imagery of infinite spaces from the comic books, which Herron wanted to have a "level of unreality to it in some ways... [because] it isn't on a planet and there isn't a sun".The majority of the season's locations and sets were 360 degree-builds on sound stages or a backlot with ceilings and integrated lighting,which gave Farahani greater control over the details and other aspects of the sets;Marvel Studios was initially hesitant to build the sets like this since they had not done a lot of full sets previously.

The series' main-on-end title sequence design was designed byPerception,and was inspired by the credits sequence ofSeven.Lokiwas not originally intended to have a title sequence, but Herron enjoyed composerNatalie Holt's TVA theme so much, she decided a title sequence should be created around it.

Filming

Filming began on February 10, 2020,atPinewood Atlanta StudiosinAtlanta, Georgia,with Herron directing,and Autumn Durald Arkapaw serving as cinematographer.The first season was filmed under theworking titleArchitect.This was chosen as a reference to theArchitectinThe Matrix Reloaded(2003) and to serve as "[a] warning not to repeat what was done before us" since much of the season is expositional conversation and they did not want it to become the conversation betweenNeoand the Architect inReloaded.Herron had a strong desire forLokito be a love letter to science fiction films such asBrazil,Metropolis,The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy,andAlien(1979).She also took visual inspiration from the seriesTeletubbies,and the noir quality ofBlade Runner.Arkapaw also drew inspiration fromBlade Runneras well asZodiacandKlute(1971). She used framing and lighting, "very 70s" filmmaking techniques, to help with the storytelling and was thoughtful on "how characters are moving through space", as well ashaze.Herron pointed toJurassic Park(1993) as an example of the "big sci-fi with heart" tone that the series was aiming for.

The season was shot onSonyVenice digital cameras withPanavisionT-seriesanamorphic lenses.Arkapaw expanded and de-tuned these lenses to adjust theirflarequality, fall off, andfocal length.Location shootingtook place in theAtlanta metropolitan areathroughout the month of February.On March 14, filming for the series was halted due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.Production resumed at Pinewood Atlanta Studios in September,andwrappedon December 5, 2020.TheAtlanta Marriott Marquisportrayed the archives at the Time Variance Authority.On the TVA processing set, Arkapaw used working frosted incandescent ceiling lights as the set'skey lights.Other Georgia locations used for filming included a quarry in northern Georgia that became the Lamentis-1 mining town and a vacant discount store that became the futuristic superstore, Roxxcart.Industrial Light & Magic'sStageCrafttechnology was not considered for the series, with Farahani stating it was not "creatively super-relevant" for what was desired.

Post-production

Herron began editing what had already been filmed during the production shutdown, which helped inform her, Martin, and Wright on what needed to be reworked or added once filming resumed to fit the series' intended tone.One of these aspects was Loki and Sylvie's relationship.Paul Zucker, Calum Ross, and Emma McCleave serve as editors.The series was completed on June 20, 2021.Visual effects were provided byCantina Creative,Crafty Apes,Digital Domain,FuseFX,Industrial Light & Magic,Luma Pictures,Method Studios,Rise,Rodeo FX,andTrixter.The TVA's time doors were inspired by the shield practice scene fromDune(1984), with 150 versions of how the doors appeared created to test which would work the best.

Music

External videos
Natalie Holt – TVA (From "Loki" )presents composer Natalie Holt's TVA theme along with the end credit sequence,YouTubevideo fromMarvelMusicVevo's channel

Natalie Holt began working on a "suite of themes" for Loki, Mobius, the TVA, and Sylvie in August 2020, starting with music for the final episode and working backwards to the first episode,which helped create a "blueprint" for her score that had an "overarching narrative".Herron used these samples of music to help "shape the tone" and emotions of the series.Holt and Herron were both drawn to using thethereminfor the series' music,with Holt believing the instrument's "character" was suited for the series and the score.Charlie Draper served as the theremin player on the score,assisting Holt with converting the score to the instrument's lower bass range.Holt's score combines the theremin with an orchestra (performed by the Budapest Film Orchestra), analog synthesizers, clock sounds, and Scandinavian folk instruments, much of which was created and contributed remotely while Holt worked in her studio in London. The scores for the final two episodes also feature a 32-person choir.Herron said Holt's music forLokiwas "operatic and bold",as well as "very layered and electronic with a dark, strange energy" that was a good fit for the character.

Likening Loki to aMachiavelliancharacter, Holt wanted his theme to have "gravitas and classical weight" in addition to a "space-age sound". She citedWendy Carlos'sMoog synthesizersounds inA Clockwork Orange(1971) as an influence, since Holt saw similarities between Loki and that film's protagonistAlex.Holt also wanted to "juxtapose" and "interplay" Loki's theme with the TVA theme.Clock sounds were included since the concept of time was central to the series,and they appear in the TVA theme which Holt wanted to be "grand, almost like a religious experience" with "these huge swells of cords" and "ornaments and grand gestures", taking inspiration from "Ride of the Valkyries"byRichard Wagner.The theme has a "slightly grainy, faded [and] vintage-y sci-fi sound" to reflect the analog nature of the TVA,with Holt creating a "low-fi demo version" of the theme that was mainly synthesizers and had an analog tape sound that was kept for the opening title cards, while the full orchestral version of the theme was used for the end title sequence.

The Norwegian instruments, including thehardanger fiddleand stringednyckelharpa,were used to represent Asgard and Loki's mother Frigga,as well as Sylvie's theme, which Holt described as "very dark, orchestral, driving, and murderous". Sylvie and Frigga's themes are connected, and Holt wanted to "feel that sense of past and sense of history and this emotional grounding" between the two.Frigga's theme was originally written on the violin, with Norwegian player Erik Rydvall aiding Holt by playing the theme on the hardanger fiddle and adding "some heart" and folk ornamentation.For Mobius, Holt listened toBon Joviand other 1990s rock music to create his "sound palette", while Renslayer's theme is "like a high organ" and is tied to Mobius's. Hunter B-15's theme was based in a drum rhythm, with Holtsamplingher voice in various layers to create "this horrible sliding sound with this driving rhythm underneath it".

The score for the season was released digitally byMarvel MusicandHollywood Recordsin two volumes: music from the first three episodes was released on July 2, 2021,and music from the last three episodes was released on July 23.The first episode's end credits track "TVA" was released as a single on June 11.

Loki: Vol. 1 (Episodes 1–3) [Original Soundtrack]

No.	Title	Music	Length
1.	"TVA"		2:28
2.	"New York, 2012"		1:30
3.	"Gobi, 2012"		3:00
4.	"TVA First View"		1:06
5.	"Loki Green Theme"		2:24
6.	"Loki Processing"		2:16
7.	"Aix-En-Provence, 1549"		2:34
8.	"Miss Minutes"		2:00
9.	"Mischievous Scamp"		1:28
10.	"Dangerous Variant"		1:37
11.	"Frigga"		2:21
12.	"TVA Inner Workings"		1:48
13.	"DB Cooper"		1:35
14.	"Oshkosh, 1985"		1:53
15.	"Catch Up"		1:38
16.	"Jet Ski"		2:11
17.	"Glorious Purpose"		2:34
18.	"The Archives"		2:08
19.	"Salina, 1858"		1:39
20.	"Roxxcart, 2050"		2:06
21.	"I Miss Randy"		1:52
22.	"Reset Charges"		2:27
23.	"TVA Title Card"		1:38
24.	"Very Full" (featuringTom Hiddleston)	Benedicte Maursethand Erlend O. Nødtvedt	1:26
25.	"Lamentis-1, 2077"		1:54
Total length:			49:33

Loki: Vol. 2 (Episodes 4–6) [Original Soundtrack]

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Headless"	2:17
2.	"Temptation"	2:12
3.	"Pep Talk"	4:04
4.	"Wild"	4:05
5.	"Time Loop"	2:13
6.	"Lokius"	3:00
7.	"Alligator Bite"	3:11
8.	"God of Outcasts"	2:53
9.	"Reunion"	2:37
10.	"Secret Hide Out"	1:51
11.	"Goodbyes"	3:26
12.	"Living Storm"	2:18
13.	"Classic Builds" (includes elements of "Ride of the Valkyries"by Richard Wagner)	2:41
14.	"Time"	2:35
15.	"Pruned"	2:44
16.	"Ravonna's Mission"	2:07
17.	"B15's Memories"	1:24
18.	"Ohio, 2018"	2:55
19.	"Fibbed"	4:12
20.	"Stop"	3:17
21.	"Be"	4:58
22.	"Back in the TVA"	2:12
23.	"He Who Remains"	2:55
Total length:		66:17

Marketing

Select members of Disney's marketing team were given access to scripts and information on the season when it began filming to start crafting its marketing campaign based on its release date. Asad Ayaz,Walt Disney Studiosmarketing president, and his team worked closely with Feige, D'Esposito, Herron, and Waldron to determine what information would be part of the campaign, while coordinating around the efforts of previous Disney+ series that were releasing beforeLokito give those their "fair time".A commercial for the season,The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,andWandaVisionwas shown duringSuper Bowl LIV.Julia Alexander ofThe Vergesaid the footage "wasn't much" but offered "enough glimpses to tease fans".Haleigh Foutch atColliderfelt of all the Super Bowl commercials, Marvel's teasers "stole the whole show" and had "a lot to get excited about".

A trailer for the season was released during Disney Investor Day in December 2020. Writers forPolygonsaid Loki "finally feels untethered by the grounded approaches of the earlyThormovies ", and based on the content of the trailer and given the season deals with alternate realities, the season might try to" explain "certain phenomena such as Loki being D. B. Cooper or features worlds where urban legends such as the fictitious video gamePolybiusexist.John Boon writing forEntertainment Tonightcalled the trailer a "bonkers first look"./Film's Hoai-Tran Bui said the scenes in the trailer was "very intriguing, cryptic stuff" and was surprised to learn the season was more than "just the time-hopping series we assumed" and would deal "with mysterious conspiracies and reality-bending organizations".

A second trailer for the series was released on April 5, 2021. Charles Pulliam-Moore ofio9called the trailer "a large-scale, time-hopping adventure with the promise to be Disney+'s next big epic".Pulliam-Moore's colleague Jame Whitbrook said the trailer was "big on mystery" and was clearer than the first about the TVA's role in the series, but it was still unclear what Loki gained "beyond the chance to enact his own brand of chaos across an entire multiverse of timelines".Polygon's Austen Goslin said it appeared Loki would be visiting past memorable moments from MCU films, callingLoki"a sci-fi, reality-hopping, heist series".Bui felt this trailer gave a better understanding of how Loki would get involved with the TVA than the first trailer did.

A poster for the season was revealed in May 2021, which featured Loki, Mobius M. Mobius, Ravonna Lexus Renslayer, and Hunter B-15,as well as Miss Minutes, the animated anthropomorphic orange clock that is the TVA's mascot.Commentators were drawn to Miss Minutes, thinking it would be viewers' favorite new character, with/Film's Chris Evangelista loving the mascot despite its weirdness and not being convinced it was a clock.Erin Brady atColliderthought Miss Minutes could "try to stealBaby Yoda's thunder ",while Adele Ankers ofIGNbelieved the mascot was a hint towards the various realities the season would explore, despite not knowing what role Miss Minutes would have in the series.Two episodes of the seriesMarvel Studios: Legendswere released on June 4, 2021, exploring Loki and the Tesseract using footage from their MCU film appearances.On July 9, a ceramic piece by João Lemos and the Viúva Lamego ceramic factory debuted inMarquês de Pombal Squarein Lisbon.Crafting a campaign for a television series, rather a film's opening weekend, necessitated Ayaz and his team to be cognizant of spoilers in the lead up toLoki's release, while new marketing materials released post-episodes covered characters or moments revealed in the previous episode.In June 2021,The Simpsonsshort filmThe Good, the Bart, and the Lokiwas announced, which would release alongside "Journey into Mystery" on Disney+. The short sees Loki teaming up withBart Simpsonin a crossover that pays homage to the heroes and villains of the MCU. Hiddleston reprises his role as Loki in the short.

In January 2021, Marvel announced their "Marvel Must Haves" program, which reveals new toys, games, books, apparel, home decor, and other merchandise related to each episode ofLokifollowing an episode's release.The first merchandise was revealed on June 7, 2021, which includedFunko Pops,Marvel Legendsfigures, pins, apparel, and accessories for the series,whileGeneral Millsand Marvel announced that they would release 3,500 specially branded boxes ofLucky Charmscereal, titled "Loki Charms", on the same day as the series' release.The "Must Haves" merchandise for the episodes started on June 11 and concluded on July 16.Later in the month,Hyundai Motor Companyreleased a commercial featuring Hiddleston as Loki promoting the series and theHyundai Tucson.The commercial was produced by Marvel alongside similar commercials forWandaVision,The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,andWhat If...?,and was meant to tell an "in-world" story set within the narrative of the season. It received 2 million views within 24 hours of its release.With the release of each episode, Loki's appearance and costumes inDisneyland'sAvengers Campusupdated each week to reflect the events of the episode.

Release

Streaming

The first season debuted on Disney+ on June 9, 2021, and released weekly on Wednesdays,with the six-episode first season concluding on July 14.It is part of Phase Four of the MCU.It had previously been announced to debut in May 2021,before it was shifted to June 11, 2021, for releases on Friday, and then to two days before that.

Home media

The first season ofLokiwas released onUltra HD Blu-rayandBlu-raybyWalt Disney Studios Home Entertainmenton September 26, 2023, withSteelBookpackaging and concept art cards. Bonus features include "Designing the TVA" with Farahani and Hiddleston, along with a look at the second season; the Miss Minutes TVA orientation video; deleted scenes; a gag reel; and theMarvel Studios: Assembleddocumentary special "The Making ofLoki".

Reception

Audience viewership

Disney CEOBob Chapekannounced that "Glorious Purpose"was the most-watched series premiere for the streaming service in its opening week.Nielsen Media Research,who measure the number of minutes watched by United States audiences on television sets, listedLokias the third-most watched original series across streaming services for the week of June 7–13, with "Glorious Purpose" accumulating 731 million minutes viewed, which was more than the premieres ofThe Falcon and the Winter Soldier(495million minutes) andWandaVision(434million).According toSamba TV,"For All Time. Always."was viewed in 1.9 million U.S. households from July 14–18, surpassing the finales ofWandaVision(1.4 million) andThe Falcon and the Winter Soldier(1.7 million).In May 2022, Feige announced thatLokiwas the most-watched Marvel Studios Disney+ series to date.

Critical response

Loki:Critical reception by episode

Loki(2021):Percentage of positive critics' reviews tracked by the websiteRotten Tomatoes

Thereview aggregatorwebsiteRotten Tomatoesreports a 92% approval rating with an average rating of 7.9/10, based on 332 reviews. The critical consensus reads, "A delightful diversion from the MCU as we know it,Lokisuccessfully sees star Tom Hiddleston leap from beloved villain to endearing antihero—with a little help from Owen Wilson—in a series that's as off-kilter, charming, and vaguely dangerous as the demigod himself. "Metacritic,which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 74 out of 100 based on 32 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

For the series' first two episodes, reviewers highlighted the banter and relationship between Hiddleston's Loki and Wilson's Mobius.The various design elements ofLoki,particularly the production design from Kasra Farahani and the cinematography from Autumn Durald Arkapaw, were also praised.

TVLine's Matt Webb Mitovitch gave the first two episodes a "B+". He felt Hiddleston "effortlessly slips back" into this version of Loki and explained that the banter between Hiddleston and Wilson was "a significant upgrade from whatFalcon and Winter Soldierbelieved it was doing ". Mitovitch concluded that once the premise has been established,Lokigets "veryfun ", with each episode" building to a tantalizing, two-pronged reveal... that opens up all kinds of possibilities "for the remainder of the series.Daniel Fienberg ofThe Hollywood Reportersaid in his review, "After two episodes,Lokiis at a tipping point. Having set everything up to an exhausting degree, things could be lined up to get really entertaining – if not zany in aRick and Mortyway, perhaps fun in some of the timeline rupture-of-the-week ways [of]The CW'sLegends of Tomorrow... OrLokimight just be a lot of Hiddleston and Wilson talking, which might still be engaging for six episodes. "Nick Allen, reviewing forRogerEbert.com,calledLoki"an exciting and genuinely inspired addition to Marvel storytelling, one that spins off and rockets its complicated villain into original territory with the help of time travel" adding the series was "bound to be a sci-fi gem".

Reviewing the first two episodes forVariety,Caroline Framke was more reserved on how successful the series would be, feeling the "dense" first episode had a lot of ground to cover, while the second "was far more engaging" and able to have more fun, ending on a tease of "an intriguing new direction", though she cautioned that the series may ultimately not "deviate from the usual script".Giving the episodes a "C", Ben Travers atIndieWirefelt the series was "any movie or TV show where a criminal is enlisted by the authorities to help solve a difficult case" with little story progress made over the first two episodes, instead using "exhausting" explanations. He added, "Lokiisn't really about Loki, so much as it's about introducing the TVA, the logistics of time travel, and how the MCU's Phase 4 timeline will end up with aMultiverse of Madness".

Holt's score for the series was also widely praised,with Jillian Unrau ofGameRantstating Holt "has done an outstanding job in making the music complement the story, as well as be iconic on its own".

In her review for the final episode of the season, Caroline Siede atThe A.V. Clubfelt the series had been "both unpredictable and weirdly straightforward; bold in its game-changing moves yet inconsequential in so many of its narrative choices".Giving the season an 8 out of 10, Simon Cardy ofIGNsaid compared to the previous two Marvel Studios series which were "more introspective pieces",Lokitook viewers "to new places to meet new people; not only making for an enjoyable watch in its own right, but also providing excitement through the promise of what's to come". Cardy praised Hiddleston's performance, noting playing the 2012 version of the character "makes for a more entertaining centerpiece", as well as praising Wilson and Di Martino for their roles and chemistry with Hiddleston, and highlighting Arkapaw's cinematography.In his review of the season,The Verge's Andrew Webster explained thatLokimade him "forget about the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe" since it was "an excellent piece of science fiction" that was the most standalone entry of the MCU to date, believing it was a good entry point to the MCU since it is "the best of what the superhero genre has to offer without all of the homework". Webster also praised the cast who all looked like they were "having a lot of fun", mentioning that "Hiddleston adds a depth to Loki that we haven't seen yet... and he has a magnetic chemistry with both Wilson and Di Martino ".

Analysis

Ahead of the series' release, Sam Barsanti atThe A.V. Clubnoted how the potential for various alternate versions of Loki to appear in the series and continue on in the MCU was "a smart way to maintain Loki's presence in the MCU without worrying about keeping Hiddleston under contract or having to continue explaining thatthisLoki—even though he's played by Hiddleston—is not the same Loki that got killed by Thanos ", and would follow suit withWandaVisionandThe Falcon and the Winter Soldierboth revealing new incarnations of existing heroes. Barsanti was excited by the prospect of potentially seeing Old Man Loki (rumored at the time to be played by Grant), the heroic Kid Loki (who could be another potential member of theYoung Avengersteam that Marvel Studios had been teasing) and in particular, Lady Loki (rumored as Di Martino's role). Since Lady Loki is "generally more of an unrepentant villain than other Lokis", it would be a way for Marvel Studios to update the Loki character and have them be a villain without "[negating] the growth that Hiddleston's Loki went through".Writing forThe Verge,Chaim Gartenberg believed heading into the series thatLokifelt like "a capital-S Spinoff" more so thanWandaVisionandThe Falcon and the Winter Soldier,both of which served as lead ins to feature films. As such, being somewhat more disconnected could allow Marvel the opportunity to "make a more standalone series that can actually be a good TV show", believing like in the comics, standalone stories sometimes produce the better stories than "the 1,000-issue epics".

After the first episode, Richard Newby atThe Hollywood Reporterbelieved the series was promising a "grand expansion" of MCU lore that would "supersede anything Marvel Studios has ever attempted with a single [MCU] entry" statingLokifelt "cosmically big, yet at the same time, [still] deeply personal". Particular lore items Newby was keen to keep an eye on were Nexus Points, that could have connections toWandaVision,and how those could lead to the creations of multiverses, and the multiversal war, which could be a reference to a futureSecret Wars-type event that would "rewrite reality" and "make the quest for the Infinity Stones seem small in comparison".

Ben Child ofThe Guardiancriticized Loki's return as part of a pattern of MCU characters making appearances after their onscreen deaths, citing characters' returns fromthe Blip,the return ofNatasha Romanoffin the prequelBlack Widow,and the appearance of versions ofVisioninWandaVision,saying it "spoil[s] the gorgeous pathos of all those death scenes" and that "all bets are off with future resurrection methods".

Following "The Nexus Event",which saw the Time-Keepers revealed to be animatronics and Loki appear on a desolate world with other Loki variants after being pruned, Newby opined that theBeyonderandBattleworldcould factor into the series.Adam B. Vary and Mónica Marie Zorrilla ofVarietydisagreed with Newby, pointing out that, with Marvel Studios' previous series, they did not weave "complicated, brand new characters as central figures" such as the Beyonder this late into a series. The pair did believe Kang the Conqueror could be a factor, since the character "[made] sense from the comics... [and] for the MCU "as he had stronger ties to elements ofLoki,such as a relationship with Ravonna in the comics, and would be appearing inAnt-Man and the Wasp: Quantumaniaportrayed by Majors.A variant of Kang appears in the final episode, He Who Remains, also portrayed by Majors. Newby noted how this time the fan theories panned out, but with "an unexpected twist". Knowing Majors would also be appearing as Kang, Newby was excited by Majors's "unique chance... to play different versions of one character, each potentially more frightening than the last ".David Opie ofDigital Spycriticized the introduction of He Who Remains, saying it "came completely out of nowhere" for non-comics readers, despite conceding that the speculation surrounding the character's appearance was correct.

Accolades

Main article:List of accolades received by Loki (TV series)

Accolades received by Loki, season one

Award	Date(s) of ceremony	Category	Recipient(s)	Result	Ref.
Dragon Awards	September 5, 2021	Best Science Fiction or Fantasy TV Series	Loki	Nominated
Harvey Awards	October 8, 2021	Best Adaptation from Comic Book/Graphic Novel	Loki	Nominated
World Soundtrack Awards	October 23, 2021	TV Composer of the Year	Natalie Holt	Nominated
Hollywood Music in Media Awards	November 17, 2021	Score – TV Show/Limited Series	Natalie Holt	Nominated
Hollywood Professional AssociationAwards	November 18, 2021	Outstanding Visual Effects – Episodic (Under 13 Episodes) or Non-theatrical Feature	Dan DeLeeuw,David Seager, Alexandra Greene, George Kuruvilla, Dan Mayer (for "Journey into Mystery")	Nominated
People's Choice Awards	December 7, 2021	Show of 2021	Loki	Won
		Male TV Star of 2021	Tom Hiddleston	Won
		Bingeworthy Show of 2021	Loki	Nominated
		Sci-Fi/Fantasy Show of 2021		Nominated
Screen Actors Guild Awards	February 27, 2022	Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Comedy or Drama Series	Loki	Nominated
Art Directors Guild Awards	March 5, 2022	Excellence in Production Design for a One-Hour Period or Fantasy Single-Camera Series	Kasra Farahani (for "Glorious Purpose")	Won
Visual Effects Society	March 8, 2022	Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode	Dan DeLeeuw,Allison Paul, Sandra Balej, David Seager (for "Journey into Mystery")	Nominated
		Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a CG Project	"Race to the Ark" – Jesse Lewis-Evans, Luke Avery,Autumn Durald Arkapaw,Scott Inkster (for "Lamentis")	Nominated
		Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Episode, Commercial, or Real-Time Project	"Alioth Cloud" – George Kuruvilla, Menno Dijkstra, Matthew Hanger, Jiyong Shin (for "Journey into Mystery")	Nominated
		Outstanding Compositing and Lighting in an Episode	"Shuroo City Destruction" – Paul Chapman, Tom Truscott, Biagio Figliuzzi, Attila Szalma (for "Lamentis")	Won
Costume Designers Guild Awards	March 9, 2022	Excellence in Sci-Fi/Fantasy Television	Christine Wada (for "Journey into Mystery")	Nominated
MPSE Golden Reel Awards	March 13, 2022	Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Limited Series or Anthology	Various(for "Journey into Mystery")	Nominated
Critics' Choice Super Awards	March 17, 2022	Best Superhero Series	Loki	Nominated
		Best Actor in a Superhero Series	Tom Hiddleston	Won
		Best Actress in a Superhero Series	Sophia Di Martino	Nominated
			Gugu Mbatha-Raw	Nominated
		Best Villain in a Series	Jonathan Majors	Nominated
Writers Guild of America Awards	March 20, 2022	Drama Series	Bisha K. Ali,Elissa Karasik, Eric Martin,Michael Waldron	Nominated
		New Series		Nominated
Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards	April 9, 2022	Favorite Family TV Show	Loki	Nominated
		Favorite Male TV Star (Family)	Tom Hiddleston	Won
British Academy Television Craft Awards	April 24, 2022	Best Original Music	Natalie Holt	Nominated
ASCAP Composers' Choice Awards	May 2, 2022	Television Score of the Year	Natalie Holt	Nominated
		Television Theme of the Year		Nominated
MTV Movie & TV Awards	June 5, 2022	Best Show	Loki	Nominated
		Breakthrough Performance	Sophia Di Martino	Won
		Best Team	Tom Hiddleston,Sophia Di MartinoandOwen Wilson	Won
Set Decorators Society of America Awards	August 2, 2022	Best Achievement in Décor/Design of a One Hour Fantasy or Science Fiction Series	Claudia Bonfe and Kasra Farahani	Nominated
Hollywood Critics AssociationTV Awards	August 14, 2022	Best Streaming Series, Drama	Loki	Nominated
		Best Actor in a Streaming Series, Drama	Tom Hiddleston	Nominated
		Best Supporting Actress in a Streaming Series, Drama	Sophia Di Martino	Nominated
		Best Supporting Actor in a Streaming Series, Drama	Owen Wilson	Nominated
		Best Writing in a Streaming Series, Drama	Michael Waldron(for "Glorious Purpose")	Nominated
		Best Directing in a Streaming Series, Drama	Kate Herron(for "Journey into Mystery")	Nominated
Dorian Awards	August 17, 2022	Most Visually Striking Show	Loki	Nominated
Hugo Awards	September 4, 2022	Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form	Eric Martin,Kate Herron,Michael Waldron(for "The Nexus Event")	Nominated
Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards	September 3–4, 2022	Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Contemporary Program (One Hour or More)	Kasra Farahani, Natasha Gerasimova, and Claudia Bonfe (for "Glorious Purpose")	Nominated
		Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series (One Hour)	Autumn Durald Arkapaw (for "Lamentis")	Nominated
		Outstanding Fantasy/Sci-Fi Costumes	Christine Wada, Nora Pederson, Tamsin Costello, and Carol Beadle (for "Glorious Purpose")	Nominated
		Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Original Dramatic Score)	Natalie Holt(for "Glorious Purpose")	Nominated
		Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music	Natalie Holt	Nominated
		Outstanding Sound Editing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One-Hour)	Various(for "Journey into Mystery")	Nominated
Saturn Awards	October 25, 2022	Best Fantasy Series (Streaming)	Loki	Won
		Best Actor in a Streaming Series	Tom Hiddleston	Nominated
		Best Guest Performance in a Streaming Series	Jonathan Majors	Nominated
	February 4, 2024	Best Television Home Media Release	Loki(Season 1) – 4K Steelbook	Nominated

By April 2022, Marvel Studios and Disney had decided to submitLokiin the various drama series categories for thePrimetime Emmy Awards,rather than in the limited series categories. Disney had previously planned to submit the series in the limited series categories along withHawkeyeandMoon Knight.Clayton Davis atVarietynoted that the reveal of a second season in the post-credits scene of the season one finale and theAcademy of Television Arts & Sciencesrules for entering a series in the limited series categories left the studios with "no other choice" than to submit in the drama or comedy categories, choosing the drama ones, which Davis felt was "the smarter choice".

Documentary special

Main article:Marvel Studios: Assembled

In February 2021, the documentary seriesMarvel Studios: Assembledwas announced.The special on this series,Assembled: The Making of Loki,goes behind the scenes of the making of the season, featuring Waldron, Herron, Hiddleston, Mbatha-Raw, Mosaku, Wilson, Di Martino, Oparei, Grant, and Majors.The special was released on Disney+ on July 21, 2021,and was included as part of the season's home media release on September 26, 2023.

External links

• LokiatIMDb