Loki casting news may give away massive time-travel twist
The more Lokis the merrier.
Casting news is still trickling out for Marvel's upcoming Loki series, and it's becoming a regular who's who of theatrical actors: Owen Wilson and Gugu Mbatha-Raw are both on board for the Disney+ series, and just yesterday Variety reported yet another film actor is on board: Richard E. Grant. Fans already have an idea who he could play, and it's just as meta as you'd expect from Loki.
Audiences may recognize Grant as Dr. Zander Rice in Logan, or as General Pryde in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. He's also known for an Oscar-nominated role in Can You Ever Forgive Me?, a cameo in Game of Thrones, and his undying love of Barbra Streisand. The guy's prolific.
Richard E. Grant as Allegiant General Pryde in The Rise of Skywalker
While a source told Variety that Grant will only appear in one episode, rumors are already swirling as to what role he'll take. Fans didn't have to pore through comics to agree on one major possibility: an elderly Loki. It makes sense, since Grant and Marvel mainstay Tom Hiddleston have both gained renown for their work in Shakespeare and Dickens adaptations. Not only are their acting styles are similar, the physical resemblance is difficult to deny.
Richard. E. Grant at the Star Wars premiere...
...And Tom Hiddleston behind the scenes of Thor: Ragnarok
An "Old Loki" would be a huge twist for the show, and seems to fit what little information we have about the plot already. The series follows the Asgardian trickster while he's in custody by the Time Variance Authority, a police force fighting crimes that pertain to the time-space continuum. The series also implies that Loki will influence certain events in human history, so the T.V.A. interrogation may serve as a "wrapper" that ties together episodes that lead us to the anti-hero's eventual arrest. This means that every episode could be more or less self-contained, leaving room for Old Loki to have 40 minutes to himself before disappearing for the rest of the season.
What would be the quintessential violation against the fabric of time and space? Visiting your future self, of course. In a Looper-esque twist, Loki may check in on himself some years into the future, just to see what happens. With a potential "Lady Loki" in the mix, we know having two Lokis together isn't impossible. For an agent of chaos like the God of Mischief, the temptation would probably be too much to resist.
There's a still a while to wait for the series to hit Disney+, as Richard E. Grant was just fitted for his costume last week. But with filming underway, we can hope to get some set leaks soon. However, if you can't wait that long, you can catch the actor in Jason Segel's AMC series Dispatches from Elsewhere.
Loki premieres on Disney+ in Spring 2021.
