Some have begun to wonder if Tom Hiddleston is done playing Loki following Season 2 of his Disney+ series.
Loki Season 2 has now come and gone, leaving Hiddleston's MCU hero in an interesting place.
After venturing to the TVA, and harnessing the power to traverse time itself, Loki found himself beyond time and space, shaping what was once the Sacred Timeline in his unique way.
This ending to Season 2 felt to many like a natural end to Hiddleston's Marvel Studios story, as it completed a character arc the fan-favorite Asgardian had been on since his debut in 2011's Thor.
Is Tom Hiddleston Retiring From the MCU?
While Loki Season 2 seemingly resolved a character arc for Tom Hiddleston's Loki more than 12 years in the making, the Marvel actor assumedly still harbors quite some passion for his MCU role and has now discussed the idea of retiring as the God of Mischief.
Speaking on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Hiddleston admitted that it's "been a journey" playing the character of Loki, leading some fans to believe that the actor was implying that his run had come to an end:
"[The finale's] the conclusion to Season 2. It's also a conclusion to Seasons 1 and 2. It's also the conclusion to 6 films, and 12 episodes, and 14 years of my life... I was 29 when I was cast. I'm 42 now. It's been a journey."
In a similar vein, via The Hollywood Reporter, executive producer Kevin Wright likened Hiddleston's performance in the finale to "a sendoff," further indicating that the actor may have been treating this as his final goodbye to the God of Mischief:
“I think his approach to that performance certainly was [a sendoff], and I think we all felt that on set."
However, Wright did clarify that this doesn't necessarily rule out Hiddleston from coming back as Loki in the future, saying "that does not mean that there won’t be more Loki or stories within this world."
When talking on the Happy Sad Confused podcast with Josh Horowitz about the possibility of returning, he admitted that he doesn't know but wryly acknowledged the many goodbyes that his character has had over the years:
Hiddleston: "I, of course, don't know and as we've discussed, there have been thank you notes exchanged between myself, and Kevin Feige, and Louis D'Esposito, and Victoria Alonso... Me saying, 'Thank you so much for the role of a lifetime. I'll always be grateful to you.' And they say, 'Tom, you'll always be part of the family. Come and see us any time...'"
Horowitz: "And eight years later still playing."
Hiddleston: "Yeah, we just keep saying thank you. And so, with that in mind, but I do feel very proud and satisfied with where we landed, because I think, as a team, we brought it full circle and it is this ultimate journey of redemption."
One has to remember this is an actor/character that has died and come back to life multiple times in the super-powered franchise, with Loki Season 2 seemingly setting the Marvel hero up for an exciting future going forward.
A further comment from Hiddleston demonstrated that, despite the finality of Loki Season 2's ending, a part of him is still willing to sit on the throne again.
Hiddleston stated would "absolutely" want to play Loki "for the rest of [his] life" if he was afforded the opportunity (via Tumblr):
"If I were asked to play Loki for the rest of my life, would I? Yeah, absolutely."
Loki series producer Kevin Wright told Deadline that he thinks there are still "many, many, many more stories [to be] told with Loki," so it would be a shame if the actor called it quits now.
Wright added, that there have been talks with the Loki cast regarding "where [they] see this going" beyond Season 2, so the actor clearly remains enthused with his work alongside the red brand:
"We take it season by season, and there are certainly things that Tom and I and other casts have talked about of where we see this going, and I know there’s some excitement for that internally, but just from a storytelling standpoint, I think we always conceived of Seasons 1 and 2 as a whole."
When Will Loki Appear Next in the MCU?
At the time of writing, no official word has been released on where and when Tom Hiddleston's Loki will next pop up in the MCU; however, his return is almost surely going to happen.
As Kevin Wright said Loki Season 1 and 2 were just "two chapters of the same book," but there are "other stories" or "new books" yet to be written for the character (via Deadline):
"That these are two chapters of the same book, and that season two is finishing that book, and there are other stories to be told there, but I think they would be new books, if that’s not too coy."
The most logical place Loki could next appear would be in a potential third season of the hit Disney+ series bearing his name.
However, unlike Season 1, Season 2 did not end with a reveal of a third season, so that may be off the table.
Another spot fans can likely expect the character to be deeply involved in is Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars.
With Loki transitioning to becoming the God of Stories (aka Loki Who Remains), his newly acquired reality-hopping abilities will be crucial as Earth's Mightiest Heroes go up against a Multiversal threat like Jonathan Majors' Kang.
In the 2022 Avengers Assemble Alpha comic run, Loki took on a similar persona to the one seen in Loki Season 2, existing outside of time and assuming the persona of Avenger Prime.
Loki (aka Avenger Prime) is then responsible for recruiting various Avengers from different realities to take on threats to the Multiverse. If Tom Hiddleston is, in fact, not done with the MCU, this could be something Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige and co. translate to the big screen.
This would then see Hiddleston's God of Mischief be the one responsible for finding heroes from different realities to take down Kang in the upcoming Avengers duology.
Loki Season 2 is now streaming on Disney+.
