Loki Season 2 Takes Us To McDonald's Thanks To Sophia Di Martino (And Nostalgia)
In a film stuffed to the gills with quotable dialogue, Inigo Montoya's (Mandy Patinkin) rehearsed speech to the dastardly, six-fingered Count Rugen (Christopher Guest) in "The Princess Bride" — "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die." — might be the most quotable line of them all. For Patinkin, however, it's not his favorite. Speaking to CBS Mornings in 2013, the actor admitted he's much fonder of a more "potent" line that Inigo says shortly after killing Rugen in combat: "I have been in the revenge business so long, now that it's over, I do not know what to do with the rest of my life."
It's the same question the character Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) is left to answer at the end of "Loki" season 1. An alternate universe version or "variant" of the God of Mischief (Tom Hiddleston), Sylvie is nearly arrested by the Time Variance Authority as a child for the "crime" of merely existing. Upon escaping, Sylvie makes it her life's mission to undo the TVA's grip on the multiverse, ultimately coming face-to-face with its creator, the Kang the Conquerer variant He Who Remains (alleged abuser Jonathan Majors), at the citadel where he resides at the end of time. When offered the choice to either take his place or kill him, Sylvie picks the latter option and plunges the multiverse into chaos.
Where Inigo gets to ride off into the sunrise in "The Princess Bride," Sylvie will have to actually figure out what comes next for her in season 2. Speaking with Fast Company, "Loki" producer Kevin Wright revealed that he asked Di Martino this very question while they were filming the season 1 finale. As it turns out, the actor already knew the answer: a trip to McDonald's. Wait, what?
I'm lovin' it?
Nostalgia is a curious beast. For all the wistful affection we have for people and places from our pasts, we also cannot help but feel sentimental about the brands we were raised on (something Hollywood is keenly aware of and has exploited to its benefit of late) ... or, in the case of Sylvie, not raised on. "You play a Little League game and go to McDonald's," Wright explained. "You go to a kid's birthday party at McDonald's. Someone like Sylvie would never have experienced that, and would be really taken by that."
In what could be considered an example of reverse-engineering product placement, a sub-plot involving Sylvie laying low at a 1982-era McDonald's in season 2 was cooked up by the "Loki" writers before Wright even broached Marvel's partnership personnel about the prospect. "I was worried that McDonald's would think we wanted to do something ironic or make fun of them," said Wright. "But we were selling an earnest story, a love letter to nostalgia through a character's eyes who will see all of the novelty and joy of it."
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Marvel did, in fact, already have a partnership in place with McDonald's. Not only that, the fast-food giant was on board with what, from its perspective, amounted to synergistic promotion. It's a bit of a bizarre situation, yet it's hard to deny that Wright has a point about the nostalgia Sylvie would have for an experience she never actually got to enjoy growing up. Again, it touches on a peculiar truth: Whether we like it or not, most of us were raised on corporate branding or absorbed it through cultural osmosis, to the point where it's somewhat indistinguishable from the rest of our childhoods.
"Loki" season 2 premieres October 6, 2023, on Disney+.