Loki Star Gugu Mbatha-Raw Teases Season 2 Changes for Ravonna Renslayer
Some changes are in store for Gugu Mbatha-Raw's character in the second season of Loki. The Ravonna Renslayer actress is one of the actors returning to the Disney+ series for Season 2, joining Tom Hiddleston, Sophia Di Martino, and Owen Wilson. Ravonna Renslayer ended the first season with a crisis of faith, after learning everything she thought she knew regarding the Time Variance Authority (TVA) was a lie. Just how Mbatha-Raw's character will rebound in the sophomore season remains a mystery, though she did tease how there will be some changes coming to the former TVA judge.
Mbatha-Raw was interviewed by PopCulture.com for her upcoming HBO Max series The Girl Before, where she joked how the "Marvel police" would be after her if she spoiled anything in Loki Season 2. "Oh, my God. You know I can't say anything about Loki," she laughed. "The Marvel police will come along and just take me away. But no, I'm excited that it's happening, and I really love my character. I think she's unexpected and complex. And so, I'm excited to go to some deeper, darker places with her as well."
It was earlier this month that Gugu Mbatha-Raw confirmed her Loki return when she was a guest on Good Morning America. "I know there is a Season 2," Mbatha-Raw said on the morning show. " I know that I'm in it, and that's about all I can say. I just love Renslayer. I'm so excited to explore her further and I'm so happy that people are really looking forward to the next season."
"She has the making of a very complex villain that has her own set of principles and beliefs that drive her," Loki head writer Michael Waldron previously said of Renslayer to Marvel.com. "She doesn't believe that what she's doing is evil. She believes that the mission is for greater good, and Renslayer probably wishes that she never learned that the Time Keepers were fake, that they had just been able to keep doing this forever."
"She's the good soldier of the TVA, just a disciple to the bureaucracy," he continued. "Then it's revealed to be a lie to her. Instead of that galvanizing her and making her question her life's purpose, the way it did with Mobius, Renslayer wants to stay in power. She reacts more in anger."
Season 2 of Loki will be without director Kate Herron, who explained why the first season's six episodes will be her swan song. "I would say that when I joined Loki, it was always going to be those six episodes. We were treating it like a movie, and we were running it like a movie. We weren't doing it in the showrunner system," Herron told THR. "So it was a lot to direct these six episodes, and I gave it all of my energy and everything I had in my soul and in my heart. I threw everything I loved about Marvel at it. So I always intended just to do these six."
What changes would you like to see Ravonna Renslayer undergo in the new season of Loki? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!