The Season 1 finale of Marvel Studios‘ Loki is almost upon us, bringing a conclusion (for now) on one of the most unpredictable entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe yet. The series has introduced Tom Hiddleston’s titular God of Mischief, as well as the audience, to a wide array of Marvel Comics concepts and characters — including Miss Minutes, the animated mascot behind the Time Variance Authority. Even before she uttered a line of dialogue on Loki, Miss Minutes became a character that fans were eager to follow, and once they discovered that legendary voice actress Tara Strong brings the character to life, that love only grew.
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Strong is absolutely no stranger to beloved animated characters, with a prolific career of performances that include (but aren’t limited to) Timmy Turner in The Fairly OddParents, Bubbles in The Powerpuff Girls, and Raven, Harley Quinn, and Batgirl in the DC universe. With Miss Minutes, Strong gets the unique opportunity to bring an entirely new character into the MCU — and keep fans guessing along the way.
Just in time for Loki‘s season finale, ComicBook.com got a chance to chat with Strong about her work on the series. We spoke about the overwhelming fan response to Miss Minutes, her reaction to the fan theories that her character is really running the TVA, and which other MCU characters she’d like to have her character cross over with. Keep scrolling to check out the interview (which is also available in the video above)!
ComicBook.com: You’re no stranger to the superhero space — I’m a huge fan of Teen Titans GO!, and I really love your work on that show. What has it been like creatively, with Loki, to originate a new character in that realm and really put a stamp on her from the very beginning?
Tara Strong: It’s been so much fun. I didn’t even know what it was when I was auditioning. I didn’t know it was Loki. I didn’t know who Miss Minutes really was. Normally, when you have an audition for a show, they’ll give you a drawing, they’ll give you a character description, and sometimes they’ll give you a show bible to know what the world is like. You might even get a full script. I didn’t have any of those things. I had a very brief description and just sides, which is a small portion of the script to audition with. I remember calling my agent saying, “Who is this? Can we get more information? Is she sentient? Is she AI? Can we get anything else?” And they couldn’t. It wasn’t until I booked it that I knew what it was, and — of course — then I was extremely excited.
In my audition, as I normally do, I gave them about three different choices — my own voice, and then one more AI, and then one with this accent that they really liked. And then when I was on the Zoom with Kate Herron, it became very collaborative, and just sort of sliding right into the perfect pocket for who she was. We played around a lot, and we [improvised] a lot, and it was a lot of fun sort of determining who this very unique character really is.
On your Twitter, you are sharing so much of the fanart and fan tributes to Miss Minutes. What has it been like to see that fan response, and see people really resonate with the character?
I love that so much. The fans, throughout the years, have always just delighted me. I love how talented everyone is and that they put their artwork out there, or songs or fiction that they’re writing, or cosplay that they’re doing. It’s so beautiful to see fans just really participating in loving things that I do.
In terms of Miss Minutes and Loki, it really is surprising and delightful. It was like this gift I didn’t know I was getting. They seem to have fallen in love with her during the trailer and were intrigued by her. The response online was instantly so positive, and I’m so grateful, because you really never know. You’re right — it’s a new character in an already very existing, beloved, huge franchise. So the fact that they loved her right away and showed that love for her right away… I’m very, very grateful to the fans.
As a human, I do my own Twitter. I like to interact with people, so I’m happy that they felt confident to put their stuff out there, and I try to retweet as much of the art as I can see. I don’t comment too much on ideas about spoilers, because I don’t want to give anybody… it’s fun to see people have different ideas of who she is and who she really is. I’ve really just enjoyed so much how instantly they’ve loved her. Because sometimes things take time. I mean, look at Teen Titans GO!. People were so angry at first that it wasn’t Season Six, and I get that. Hopefully, we’ll get season six eventually. But, initially, they didn’t love it, and it took some time for them to get to love GO! and accept it in a different form of the Teen Titans. But this was like insta-love for the show and for Miss Minutes, and I’m very grateful.
There have obviously been a lot of fan theories surrounding Miss Minutes. One of my coworkers is convinced that she’s secretly running the entire TVA. Are there any that you’ve seen that you were particularly fond of? Not necessarily in terms of spoilers, but where you love the creativity that fans have kind of gone to?
I have to say, I just love the fact that they think she’s behind it all. Because I always loved playing these cute little girl characters who are actually so powerful. We can go back to The Powerpuff Girls, these kindergartners saving the world before bedtime. I think it promotes girls and friends of girls to see the strength in girls and in female characters. So the fact that they think she’s behind it has just tickled me so much. And who knows? I mean, I don’t know. We can’t really say right now, but I think that’s been very fun to think that she’s the mastermind behind everything.
If you could have Miss Minutes cross over with any other character in the MCU, outside of the ones we’ve seen in Loki, who would it be?
Oh, that’s a great question. I’m going to say something that maybe your fans might not like, but I think it’d be fun to see her with a bunch of different characters. I think it’d be fun if she was a source of information for Spider-Man, or for the Scarlet Witch one day. Maybe she just sort of swoops in and helps people, or maybe she has her own agenda, or maybe she doesn’t. I feel like her character could interact with almost anyone and find her way in.
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