The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been built upon a highly connected web of movies and shows – and, as with any fictional universe, the moment time travel gets involved, things become even more complicated. Well, Avengers: Endgame made sure to branch a few more timelines out, and the upcoming Loki series looks set to deal with the spillage.
Loki sees Tom Hiddleston return as the title mischief-maker, and introduces the TVA – that's the Time Variance Authority – who deal with fractures in the timeline. Mobius (Owen Wilson) and Hunter B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku), the TVA’s Judge Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) are all members of this group, and Loki certainly looks set to make their lives difficult.
However, it's not only the TVA that will be having a difficult time. Marvel boss Kevin Feige wants to keep the Marvel universe functioning properly and has brought back Loki writer Michael Waldron to work on the script for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. So, will Loki and Doctor Strange 2 share connective tissue?
"That would just be crazy conjecture," laughs Waldron while talking to Total Film magazine. for the new issue. "All of these stories, in their own way, are interconnected, and have ramifications. I think that certainly our aim with the Loki series was for it to have wide-reaching ramifications across the MCU moving forward. So, you know, was I having to clean up some of the messes that I made [with Loki]? Maybe so."
If there are any timeline grievances, then surely a Loki season 2 would be in order? Will a follow-up happen? "At this point, I have learned that for me to have any expectations is futile and a fool’s errand," Tom Hiddleston says. "Having said goodbye to the character once, twice, three times, I do not know what the future holds. But I’m excited to find out. I think we could never have seen 10 years ahead."
He pauses, grins. "However, that would be to underestimate the intelligence of Kevin Feige! Maybe he did see into the future, and he predicted all this, and, in fact, he works for the TVA, and reality is unfolding as it should, and we’re all just along for the ride..."
Loki launches on Disney Plus from June 9, with the first of six weekly episodes. For much more on the show, and exclusive interviews with Hiddleston and the cast, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, director Kate Herron and head writer Michael Waldron, pick up a copy of the latest issue of Total Film magazine, which hits shelves real and digital on Friday, May 28.
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