Tom Hiddleston Teases A More Heroic Loki In Season 2
One of my most indelible New York Comic-Con memories was being in the big hall for Marvel's "The Avengers" panel back in 2011, where they showed some footage and Chris Evans and Mark Ruffalo showed up. But then Tom Hiddleston came out and the audience lit up. You would think Justin Bieber or "Twilight"-era Robert Pattinson had just hit the stage — that's the intensity of the love fans already felt for Hiddleston and the character of Loki after only one appearance in "Thor."
Flash-forward to the tail-end of 2021 and Hiddleston is now six movies, a TV series, and several animated voice performances into cementing Loki's legendary status, and much of it has to do with his own charisma as well as the special way the God of Mischief straddles the line between good and evil. That constant tension between doing the right and wrong thing (and often making the two blur) is what makes the son of a frost giant so ... human.
Hiddleston said as much in a new interview with Variety, where the actor teased what is to come in season 2 of the Disney+ "Loki" series:
"I understand the audience sees good in Loki — they want him to get past his internal and external obstacles. They want him to repair that relationship with his brother and step into the hero that he can be."
"I can choose my path."
The fact that the lead character in the "Loki" series is not the Loki we saw mature into finally reconciling with his brother in "Thor: Ragnarok" (that Loki is sadly deceased, thanks a lot Thanos) adds a wrinkle to the show as it brings the more ragged-edge villain Loki variant from the first "Avengers" to the fore, meaning all that self-actualizing he did in the previous movies was for naught. Yet it gives this multiverse variant Loki the chance to be redeemed once again, this time with the help of Owen Wilson's Mobius and Sophia Di Martino's Sylvie.
Hiddleston admitted that the bonds he formed with these two characters in season 1 have driven his more selfish, fascistic impulses out:
"He realizes, 'Actually, I can choose my path and choose to do the right thing. Or I choose, at least, not to repeat the same old tricks that I repeated over and over in a cycle of trust and betrayal. It's exciting to retain all the characteristics that makes Loki, Loki, and at the same time to play slightly different music within him."
With the second season of "Loki" already promised in the closing moments of season 1, we should expect, perhaps, a few more hiccups on Loki's new journey towards being his best self, but man it will be a fun ride.