Loki Director Says the Marvel Series Is about Identity and Self-Acceptance

Loki director Kate Herron describes the Marvel Studios original series starring the scheming shapeshifter (Tom Hiddleston) as a show "about identity and self-acceptance." Following a Loki circa 2012 who escaped with a stolen Tesseract during the events of Avengers: Endgame, this "Variant"-labeled Loki is in a "grey area" when we next see him arrested by the Time Variance Authority. This is not the Loki who developed from jealous would-be king to an anti-hero over three Marvel movies — Thor: The Dark World, Thor: Ragnarok, and Avengers: Infinity War, where that Loki dies defying Thanos (Josh Brolin) — but the as-yet-unredeemed Loki whose plots have twice been thwarted by his adoptive brother Thor (Chris Hemsworth).

"In terms of the themes, I love grey areas. The show is really about what makes someone truly good or what makes someone truly bad, and are we either of those things? Loki is in that grey area," Herron told The Hollywood Reporter ahead of the June 9 series premiere. "It's exciting to be able to tell a story like that. As a director and a writer, you don't necessarily understand why you are making these stories. Something I keep getting drawn back into is identity. [Herron's Netflix series] Sex Education, we spoke a lot about identity and feeling like an outsider but actually finding your people. I feel the same with Loki. It's a show about identity and self-acceptance and for me, that's also what drew me in."

Taking place immediately after Loki escapes from Earth's mightiest heroes in Endgame, Hiddleston plays a version of the God of Mischief who "isn't the Loki we've seen" in movies beyond 2012's The Avengers.

"How do we take a character that people love, but from a lot earlier, and send him on a different path? That for me was interesting, getting to unpack that," Herron said of the series from head writer Michael Waldron. "Alongside that, getting to set up a whole new corner of the MCU with TVA. That to me was so exciting."

Marvel's Loki premieres Wednesday, June 9, on Disney+.

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