Loki head writer Michael Waldron knows quite a bit about the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and when we sat down with him prior to the series premiere last week, he shared all he could about also penning Sam Raimi's Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and having the unique opportunity to do whatever he wanted with this story.
He also offers a brief tease for the upcoming third episode and what to expect from that enchanting new character (Sophia Di Martino), who we'll be learning a lot more about in the next chapter of the acclaimed Marvel series starring Tom Hiddleston.
Check out the full video interview below (apologies for the technical difficulties) or keep scrolling for the full transcript!
ROHAN: You’re coming in after working on Rick & Morty, which is basically the ultimate sci-fi show, where you get to do whatever you can think of.
Since this is a new Loki, did this series provide a similar experience where you had all this freedom to think up any scenario or situation you wanted?
MICHAEL: "Yeah, totally, it felt very similar to Rick & Morty in that sense in that it was like ‘Alright, you can do anything here,’ there’s no cap on our imagination. That’s a testament to Marvel as much as anything. They allowed us to be as crazy and risky as we could possibly be as a writing staff. Kevin Feige really empowered me to take chances with the character and everything. So, in that sense, it reminded me of working on Rick & Morty. "
ROHAN: Loki 2012 is obviously pre-Dark World/Ragnarok/Infinity War, but he now knows what’s ultimately supposed to happen to him and his family - what would you say his goal is for the rest of the season? Redemption or revenge?
MICHAEL: "I guess I can’t totally answer that, that’d be giving it all away, but I think the pilot - or the first episode - starts the process of forcing Loki to look inward and self-reflect, really take stock of ‘Who am I? Why am I the way that I am?’ and those are all questions we were all interested in examining as a team."
ROHAN: We’ve spent the past decade following the Avengers and their journey to Endgame, but WandaVision and Loki have quickly turned things on their head and revealed that there are far more powerful entities out there than Thanos and the Infinity Stones.
How much fun was that to play with and are you allowed to tease any other upcoming callbacks?
MICHAEL: "I think it was really cool to take the world of the MCU - there’s literally ten years of history that have come before this and there’s so much weight on stuff like the Infinity Stones and everything and what I thought and what our writing team got really excited about was ‘Alright, how can we say that all of that stuff was basically just bullshit compared to what the TVA does?
It’s all in service of just making the TVA, establishing them as a more and more formidable force for Loki to be running up against. So, there’s a lot of good opportunities for Easter Eggs and stuff within that. "
ROHAN: Speaking of callbacks, there's a very quick devil reference in the premiere when we meet Mobius (Owen Wilson) - was that a nod to all the speculation surrounding a certain character's appearance in WandaVision or was that just a coincidence?
MICHAEL: "*with a big smile* You know man, time will tell. Time will tell. I love a good Mephisto speculation."
ROHAN: There's a really enchanting character that shows up at the end of episode two and while we don't get their identity just yet, the rumor mill has strongly been suggesting one thing, but there's also another popular Marvel character that fans will likely be hoping this could be.
What can you tell us about this mystery character and will it be someone known to Marvel fans or someone totally unexpected?
MICHAEL: "Something awesome... if you’re excited by the end of episode two, buckle up. *laughs* Things are going to just get crazier from there on out.
As for their identity, I think that depends, I think maybe some people might know them, some people might not. In any case, it will all become clear very shortly."
ROHAN: With WandaVision, Loki, and Spider-Man: No Way Home coming our way this December, there seems to be a lot of multiverse build-up leading into Doctor Strange - which you wrote - next year. What kind of challenge did that present trying to pull together all this connective tissue to write arguably the biggest MCU film since Endgame?
MICHAEL: "With every Marvel project, the charge is the thing you’re working on, make it the best thing it can possibly be and so that meant making the Loki show as kickass as we could and then trusting it would organically fit into the rest of the MCU and the blueprint moving forward and so all these things inevitably feed into one another and so there’s a lot of cool stuff to come. "
Loki episode two is now streaming on Disney+