Loki director on working with Tom Hiddleston and how season 2 centers on the God of Mischief facing up to his past

Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Loki, and Loki in Marvel TV series Loki — (Image credit: Marvel Studios)

Dan DeLeeuw worked on both Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame and Loki (as well as a couple of other MCU projects before that), but he never actually interacted with franchise veteran Tom Hiddleston until he directed the actor in the hit Marvel TV series.

"The closest I got to meeting Tom was when we were shooting some second unit work with his stunt double," the visual effects supervisor laughs, while chatting to GamesRadar+ about season 2's upcoming second episode, in which he makes his directorial debut. "I got a shot of Hulk bashing him out of the way."

"Tom's amazing. He's kind and generous and open," DeLeeuw continues. "Loki is essentially a world that he's built across the films and he invites you freely into it, you know? To contribute and build and add, and it was truly amazing experience working with Tom."

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In the returning show's next installment, which releases on October 13 in the UK, the titular God of Mischief reunites with Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino), meets comics villain Zaniac, and faces more timey-wimey trouble with Mobius (Owen Wilson) and the gang. It also sees him embrace his dark side once again, as he starts trying to marry his villainous past self and the unlikely hero he has since become.

"You want him to grow as a character and you want to not lose who he was. It's true to himself; he saw [his mother] Frigga dying and what did that mean for him?" says Deleeuw. "What were the consequences of him being the bad son? If he even was, maybe he was something a bit different. He's just now learning how to balance himself and what he can accept of himself. Is it truly all bad? What does it mean for Loki to have kind of divorced himself from a lot of that?

"Going into this episode, I was thinking he hadn't really lost that side of him. He just needs to realize it's okay to use your powers if you're not, you know, doing full-scale Avengers Loki mischief."

Given his background, it's hardly surprising DeLeeuw was keen to have Loki use his magic again. In scenes glimpsed in the official trailer, episode 2 features the Asgardian zapping bad guys with green energy blasts, conjuring horned shadowy versions of himself, and duplicating his body. But hopping into the director's chair was something he's always been actively "working towards" for many years, in the hope of combining his passions for computer-generated imagery and broader filmmaking.

"The Russo brothers were very generous and they let me take on more roles; coming up with ideas for action sequences and ultimately, then, directing additional photography and then moving into second directing," DeLeeuw explains. "I worked on Loki season 1, so I got a real sense of the world. Then they invited me to come on and it was it was an amazing experience. It's a truly fortunate time to come into something because you already have an amazing cast, who knows their characters but they're also very generous, creatively and collaboratively – same with my fellow directors, too."

Loki season 1 saw Sex Education's Kate Herron take the reins for the entirety of its run. For its follow-up, Marvel hired sci-fi faves Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead as head directors, alongside the likes of Kasra Farahani and DeLeeuw.

"We kind of worked on the script with the actors. We would all sit in the same room; Justin, Aaron, and Kasra, who was production designer as well," the latter recalls. "It wasn't just something that we focused in on on our own. We would volunteer ideas and that way, you know, it kind of kept the same tone and same vision, because it was something that we all shared."

Loki season 2 episode 1 is streaming on Disney Plus now. Hear more from our interviews with Dan DeLeeuw and executive producer Kevin Wright on the latest episode of the Inside Total Film podcast. While we wait for episode 2, check out our deep dives some of which contain spoilers on: