How Kevin Feige Recruited Ke Huy Quan For Loki Season 2
If you want to see Ke Huy Quan's life change in real time, keep an eye on his performance in "Loki" season 2. According to producer Kevin Wright, who recently spoke to io9 about the show, Quan was actually cast in the time-twisting Marvel series just as "Everything Everywhere All At Once" was hitting big. According to his timeline, Quan likely filmed the show while his name was being thrown around for award consideration (he would eventually go on to win the Best Supporting Actor Oscar). "The buzz was picking up on 'Everything Everywhere All at Once' — that was happening as we were shooting — and then when we were in post-production, he had won an Academy Award," Wright told the outlet, adding, "The timing was crazy."
Timing is a key word here, as Quan was offered a part in the show when "Everything Everywhere All At Once" was still only in a very limited release in L.A. and New York. "It was a week away from him about being everywhere," Wright shared, and casting director Sarah Finn knew that the beloved "The Goonies" and "Indiana Jones" actor was about to be rolling in opportunities once more people saw his turn in the multiverse-hopping A24 movie. "I think you should cast Ke," Wright recalled Finn saying. "I think he's perfect for this. And if you don't make an offer by Monday, you're probably going to lose the chance, because I think he's about to blow up in a very big way."
'This is our O.B.'
According to series writer Eric Martin, who spoke with The New York Times about the new season, the call for Quan's casting actually came from even higher up. "That was [Marvel Studios president] Kevin Feige," Martin told the outlet. "He saw him in 'Everything Everywhere All at Once' and Kevin fell in love with O.B. on the page, and I think he just saw him and then he's like, 'This is our O.B. He'll just step right in and be perfect for this.'" Wright says he and others pitched the show to Quan and showed him script pages so the actor could get a sense of who TVA mechanical genius O.B. is, but Feige ended up getting Quan on board personally. According to Wright, "Kevin Feige gave him a call and said, 'Ke, we really want you to do this. Will you join us in London and start making this?' Very quickly afterwards, he was on a plane to London to start building this."
If you've read about Quan's recent comeback or the reason he was absent from the spotlight for so long, the reaction to finding out Marvel was chomping at the bit to cast him here is likely a mix between "Of course they were!" and "they're lucky to have him." Quan famously stepped away from acting due to Hollywood's lack of opportunities for Asian actors, and "Everything Everywhere All At Once" was his first time back in front of a camera in years. Even once he had filmed the movie, Quan wasn't sure if his return to acting would be for good.
The call from Marvel was just the tip of the iceberg
Quan spoke with NPR about the strange period when the movie had been filmed but wasn't out in the world yet, admitting that he got a lot of rejections while sending in self-tapes during COVID. "I was scared all of a sudden, because I thought 'Everything Everywhere' was a one-time thing and it brought me back to those times when I was in my late teens and early 20s where I was auditioning and not landing anything. I lost my health insurance."
Then the movie came out, and suddenly Marvel was calling. They weren't the only ones, though. Aside from his work in "Loki," Quan can also be seen in the Disney+ series "American Born Chinese," and he'll appear in the 2024 Netflix movie "The Electric State." Plus, as you might recall, he picked up some shiny new trophies earlier this year.
Whatever Quan does next, we can't wait to see it. You can catch him now in "Loki" on Disney+, with new episodes streaming on Thursdays.