Loki is "Laying the Groundwork" for the Future of the MCU, Executive Producer Says
“We do big things and we hope we inspire future stories.”
Loki is already making Marvel Cinematic Universe history. Two years after the series was part of the first wave of Marvel Disney+ originals, it’s done what no other series could do: it snagged a Season 2 renewal. Now, Loki’s adventures in the TVA are only getting better and more complicated, to keep up the pace with an MCU now branching out into multiverses and galactic adventures.
Loki Executive Producer Kevin Wright reveals just how the series is leading the charge and shaping the path of the MCU as a whole.
“We’ve been very lucky in that we’ve been given a lot of freedom to tell our story,” Wright tells Inverse, “because I think audiences are responding to it, and we are laying the groundwork for everybody else. So all of those projects certainly know about what we’re doing, and get that information. What they do with it, and how they build their own stories, we try not to oversee too much.”
Wright opens up about Season 2, future MCU development, and the big ending that could change the MCU as we know it.
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Loki is the first Marvel Disney+ series to get a second season.
Loki's the first MCU original series to be renewed for a second season, why this show?
In large part, because it would've been torturous to leave on the cliffhanger that we did and not pay off our story. A big part of it is what Tom's been doing with Loki for so long, but also that we've built a real world in the TVA, and with all this ensemble and this cast. Not only is there a lot of ground left for their stories, but it just feels like there's fertile ground for future stories as well, which is something we're trying to now build into all of our streaming projects.
Does that mean that we might see spinoffs? Could Loki become the Mandalorian of the MCU?
I would love that. I don't know what's in the cards for Tom going forward, but certainly the TVA is something that I get excited about, and I think a lot of people externally and internally get excited about it. There are so many cool stories that we could tell there.
Was there any consultation between the creative team behind Loki and any upcoming Marvel projects?
Not really. Because Loki has been telling, by the end of this, almost 12 hours of story, I feel like we've been the one disseminating the information. For other projects going forward, we've been very open and sharing, "Hey, we are doing this. This is where we're leaving our things. This is what we're doing. This is how we describe this," and we work very, very closely with somebody at Marvel whose job is to oversee all of this.
Season 2 introduces “time slipping,” a metaphysical glitch affecting Loki.
What parts of Season 1 does Season 2 double down on?
The search for identity, I think. It's something that was important to all of us, and certainly Kate [Herron] in Season 1, and we wanted to continue to build on that here because of unfinished business.
It's not like, "All right, I know who I am," one day, it's a constant. I think the exciting part of that was putting it into higher-stakes storytelling this season because the real test of who you are comes out in higher-stakes situations. Then just the world, seeing more of this world, seeing more of these characters, obviously Tom, and magic, and all of that fun stuff, and the ensemble. We just have this great cast, giving them great scenes so they can do their best work.
Now that the writers’ strike is over, are there any new shows entering or reentering development that you can tell me about?
I cannot. But I would tell you, just wait until... I can't say without spoiling where this show goes. But I would say, there's all sorts of great stuff in the works and I am really, really excited for the future of Marvel streaming. I think we've got a lot of cool things coming.
So, where this show ends will inform a lot of the future of the MCU?
That's the hope. That's the hope. That's what we do at Loki. We have high stakes. We do big things and we hope we inspire future stories.
Okay, well now I'm expecting big, big swings in those last episodes.
They're profoundly beautiful, is what I would say.
