Marvel Cinematic Universe fans may have seen Loki die at the hands of Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War, but the God of Mischief is set to make his return in a self-titled series for Disney+. We’ve been familiar with Tom Hiddleston’s Asgardian trickster for nearly a decade now, and he has changed (in some aspects of his character) during that time. Now, one Loki star says he’ll mature even more in the new series.
Gugu Mbatha-Raw can’t say much about Marvel and Disney+’s Loki, but she did tease that the show will take the titular character to a number of different places. She also noted that viewers will get to see Loki mature in a what that they haven’t before:
It goes to other places and you get to see that character mature in a different way. It’s going to be exciting for the fans to really see Tom and that character take the center of the story.
Mbatha-Raw has been careful whenever she’s spoken about her involvement in the series, and the same can definitely be said of her comments to ET. However, her mention of Loki maturing is interesting. In many cases, Loki has proven to be arrogant, selfish and even childish. This was especially apparent through the lengthy rivalry he once held with his adopted brother, Thor.
By the events of Thor: Ragnarok, Loki appeared to have put his animosity for his brother behind him, with the two seemingly becoming friends. The fact that he was willing to put himself in harm’s way in Infinity War was also a testament to the amount of character development he's experienced.
Despite all of this, viewers won’t be following that iteration of Loki in the spinoff series. This particular iteration will be his 2012 counterpart, who used the Tesseract to escape the Avengers in Endgame. So this Loki won’t have experienced any of the epiphanies that his present-day counterpart did, hence the need for him to grow up.
Loki may seem like a one-note character on the surface, but showrunner Michael Waldron knows that he’s dealing with a fairly complex character. He believes that many of Loki’s actions stem from his struggle to find an identity of his own. Based on this, it sounds like Waldron is prepared to challenge everything we know about the character.
While exact plot details on Loki have yet to be revealed, it would appear that he’ll be traveling through time and potentially causing mayhem. This will no doubt land him into trouble with more than a few people.
Loki has always been a fan-favorite, and this new show gives Marvel Studios a chance to flesh him out like never before. Let’s hope Waldron and his team stay true to who the character is but also manage to add a few more layers to him along the way.
Loki is currently slated hit premiere on Disney+ sometime in 2021.
