Loki Production Designer Explains Show's Retro Technology

The Time Variance Authority has access to any point in time. In fact, the show's latest episode showed us it's possible for people with access to a TemPad to travel all the way to the end of time, to a point where time is still being written. Yet throughout the series, the outfit uses tech that appears archaic and outdated. As you might expect from Marvel Studios, that's entirely by design — it was the show's goal to turn the TVA into a "post-war bureaucracy" with so many rules it'd trip over its own feet.

Loki production designer Kasra Farhani tells us the show wanted to pay tribute to the group's comic roots while adding a flare for live-action.

"It has the feeling of a post-war bureaucracy in its DNA," the filmmaker tells us. "I think on top of that, the brief from Mike Waldron was like Mad Men meets Blade Runner, which is quite a concise and invocative starting point. For me, I also feel like so many of these big institutions, they get built at a certain time or they get infusions of capital at certain times to do major infrastructure building or renovation, and then they don't for decades after that."

Farahani tells us he grew up along the west coast, and he drew inspiration from local municipal buildings for the design of the TVA.

"That's what gives you this kind of cold, stoic, bureaucratic feeling," he adds. "But then it's wrapped in the warmth and colors and patterning of American style mid-century modernism, with these oranges and browns and these whimsical patterns like clock patterns and things like that we have."

Farahani concludes, "So basically the goal was to create this environment, the TVA that created a cognitive dissonance in the people that were walking through the space. And then the audience would be confused by the fact that it's this inviting place, yet feels like killing you."

Loki is now streaming on Disney+. If you haven't signed up for Disney+ yet, you can try it out here.

What have you thought of the Hiddleston-starring series so far? Let us know your thoughts either in the comments section or by hitting our writer @AdamBarnhardt up on Twitter to chat all things MCU!

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