Tom Hiddleston Confirms He Will Play Loki For All Time, Always
What would heroes be without their villains? And more importantly, what would the Marvel Cinematic Universe be without its fan-favorite offender, Loki? We'd rather not know the answer — and according to Tom Hiddleston, we never will.
Hiddleston's Loki has been garnering rabid fans since the introduction of the character back in 2011's Thor. His popularity continued to rise with The Avengers, a movie that saw him terrorizing the MCU's most beloved team of heroes, and continued through movies like Thor: Ragnarok and Avengers: Infinity War. So it wasn't too surprising that his solo run on Disney+ had a record-breaking premiere.
Now that season 1 of Loki has come to a close, the natural next question is when will we see him again? And will this show be Hiddleston's exit from Marvel Studios?
Given that the show has already been confirmed for a season 2 and that Loki will appear in the upcoming animated series What If...?, we can expect Hiddleston to be around for at least a few more years. And after that? In a Tumblr Q&A, the actor swooped in to smother our fears. Answering a fan question, he said:
"If I were asked to play Loki for the rest of my life, would I? Yeah, absolutely. I'm so lucky that I've got to play Loki for this long. I feel like he's such an interesting character who's been around in human consciousness for so long. And he's got so many different aspects, so many different complex characteristics, that it feels like every time I play him I find out something new or we get to evolve him or take him down an avenue that we haven't gone down before."
Loki's evolution has been considerable and, to his point, Hiddleston never runs out of places to take him. The God of Mischief has been conniving and treacherous, but more recently, he's been conflicted and dare I say, kind. His new series took the character to a number of brand new places and dared to ask how we reconcile his villainous nature and history of betrayal. And the answer, painful as it was, made for arguably the best Disney+ series so far.
The Future of Hiddleston's Loki
Based on the MCU promise of multiverse adventures, we can expect there to be plenty of reshuffling in the films ahead. New actors coming in to fill roles we've already seen is certainly on the table. In fact, we've already seen different versions of Loki, and there's no reason they can't all coexist together. But fear over Hiddleston being replaced isn't entirely unfounded.
Plenty of actors have chosen to step back from the MCU and bid farewell to longtime characters (even if just temporarily). This includes two original and extremely popular Avengers, Tony Stark and Steve Rogers. Previously played by Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans, both roles have been recast with new voice actors for the What If...? series.
Evans in particular was extremely open about how, following Avengers: Endgame, he'd be stepping down from the role and officially saying goodbye to the character. Of course, rumors have been floated that he may return to the role sometime in the future but that remains to be seen. Even so, it likely wouldn't be in a major role/solo movie. Just to compare, Hiddleston's been playing Loki for as long as Evans was our Cap — so wanting a step back would make sense. Thankfully, he clearly has no plans to retire:
"Yeah, [Loki's] been around for a while. I think he's going to be around for a lot longer. Meanwhile, I'll just hold on for as long as people want me to hold on for."
If Hiddleston's official stance is to play the role as long as people want him to, then this stint as Loki might last a lifetime. The God of Mischief has an army of fans that reach the depths of Tumblr and the crowded halls of Comic-Con. A major part of his appeal is how deliciously fun Hiddleston makes the role. Even off-camera, he's made plenty of time for conquering the hearts of his fans in proper Loki fashion.