Loki Director Reveals How Season 2 Achieved the Look of Different Time Periods

We’re two episodes into Loki‘s sophomore season, and it is already bringing a distinct flair to the tapestry of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The season’s second episode definitely delivered on that front, with long sequences set in the 1970s — where Hunter X-5 / Brad Wolfe (Rafael Casal) is starring in a Zaniac! movie — and 1980s — where Sylvie (Sophia di Martino) has started a new life as a McDonald’s employee. One thing that caught fans’ attention was the visual approach to those sequences, and according to Loki director Dan Deleeuw, it was brought to life in a unique way. While speaking to ComicBook.com, Deleeuw spoke about the thought process behind these sequences, as well as the film grain that added a distinct sheen to the ’70s and ’80s sequences.

“Across the entire episode, we put film grain on it,” Deleeuw explained. “So, that gave it — not a patina per se, but when you went back in different time periods, it helps seat that and it made it more believable. I think the palette was incredibly important with McDonald’s, because you started getting into the more vibrant eighties colors, in contrast to the more muted colors in the seventies. And then it was just having fun and designing the seventies, finding a reason that the punks and the mods would be together, finding just the right year, the mods, kind of coming back a little bit with the jam and then Quadrophenia coming out a couple years later. So you’re thinking about all that stuff. It’s the fun part of the puzzle, putting that together.”

Why Is McDonalds in Loki Season 2?

In a recent interview with Fast Company, Loki producer Kevin Wright spoke about the decision to set part of Season 2 at the 1980s McDonalds, and about the feeling of nostalgia he hopes it inspires.

“This character had been on a decades-long, maybe centuries-long revenge mission, and the classic trope of those stories is that it’s all-consuming and she’s not thinking about what comes next. Now she has this moment of opportunity, where is she going to go?” Wright explained. “When we stayed in the view of character, this woman who went on the run as a child, had been running through time, a fugitive of time, living in apocalypses, never being able to relax or slow down, the novelty of walking into a 1980s McDonald’s looked appealing. You play a Little League game and go to McDonald’s. You go to a kid’s birthday party at McDonald’s. Someone like Sylvie would never have experienced that, and would be really taken by that.”

“I was worried that McDonald’s would think we wanted to do something ironic or make fun of them,” Wright continued. “But we were selling an earnest story, a love letter to nostalgia through a character’s eyes who will see all of the novelty and joy of it.”

What Is Loki Season 2 About?

Marvel Studios fan-favorite Tom Hiddleston stars in Loki Season 2, returning as the titular God of Mischief for another round of time-traveling hijinx on Disney+ on October 5th. Loki is once again joined by Mobius (Owen Wilson) as the two attempt to keep the timelines intact. After the events of Season 1 saw his variant Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) kill He Who Remains and unleash the wrath of Kang the Conqueror upon the Multiverse, Loki must once again embark on an adventure to keep reality from collapsing. Loki was last seen in the post-credits scene of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, where he and Mobius were keeping tabs on one of Kang’s mysterious variants. Loki Season 2 will continue the story of the Multiverse Saga in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

ComicBook.com‘s podcast Phase Zero will be recording live episodes every week following Loki season 2’s new episodes on Disney+. Each week we will review, breakdown, and discuss the latest installment of the new Marvel series immediately after the episode’s conclusion! The new episodes will be broadcast live on the Phase Zero channel on YouTube before being made available on all major podcast platforms. Phase Zero will begin its 5-minute timer to start the live show at 9:45pm ET on Thursday, October 5. You can subscribe to the Phase Zero channel now and turn on notifications to make sure you don’t miss the Loki Season 2 bonus episodes!

If you haven’t signed up for Disney+ yet, you can try it out here. 

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