Does anyone actually want Tom Hiddleston as Loki in a TV series?

Set to make his glorious return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is the “God of Mischief” himself, Loki, played once again by English actor Tom Hiddleston. 

Confirmed at the 2020 Disney Investor Day, along with a slate of other new Disney+ & theatrical content for MCU, was the return of the mischievous Loki, brother of Thor who’s known throughout the galaxy for his hijinks, set to star in the Disney+ series Loki, expected to be released in Spring 2021. 

A Loki TV series sounds interesting enough, but do we actually want Tom Hiddleston back in the titular role? We fail to see how this upcoming tv-series is burdened with glorious purpose . . .   

Loki in the MCU

(Spoilers ahead) 

Making his debut in 2011’s Thor, Loki seems to have a knack right from the get-go for starting trouble. Loki is an MCU character who you never could quite tell which side he was on, as he played a villain in Thor, the main villain in 2012’s The Avengers, a hero in 2013’s Thor: The Dark World, a combination of both in 2017’s Thor: Ragnarok, and a hero, albeit sacrificial, once more in 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War. 

It’s easy to look at that paragraph and simply assume that the character of Loki was overused or even mismanaged, as it did at times feel like the character was being stretched more than an 8:00 a.m. session at Bikram yoga. 

Another fake death in the MCU

In the first scene of Avengers: Infinity War, we see Thanos and his “children” overtake Thor’s ship, filled with Asgardians who Thanos ultimately slaughters in order to “bring balance to the universe”. 

Loki, in a desperate attempt to save himself & Thor, pledges his allegiance to Thanos once more, only to then try and stick a dagger into the neck of the Mad Titan, before Thanos stops the action himself with his infinity stone. Thanos then picks Loki up and crushes his throat, killing him in front of his brother. 

“No more resurrections,” says Thanos, most likely a wink to us MCU faithful who’ve grown tired of the Loki “fake death” shenanigans and were finally ready for a respectable end to the God of Mischief – an exciting character who was played brilliantly by Hiddleston who, for better or for worse, we were finally ready to say goodbye to. 

Loki’s return

In 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, we saw the return of Loki due to the alternate timelines traveled to by Earth’s mightiest heroes, desperately finding a way to collect the infinity stones and reset the destruction caused by Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War. 

One of these dimensions included Loki, fresh off his defeat after the events of 2012’s The Avengers, able to secure the tesseract which held the space stone as he disappeared from the screen and into parts unknown. 

“Good grief,” says Charlie Brown. 

Loki on Disney+

We saw the first snippet from this series during a sizzle reel during the 2020 Super Bowl, and now we know so much more given the information & trailer released last week during the Disney Investor Day. 

The official synopsis of Loki, albeit a minor tease, seems to suggest Loki will still have control of the tesseract, able to jump through time as he fights to change key moments throughout history. The series will see the return of Tom Hiddleston in the titular role, with a supporting cast that features Owen Wilson (Wedding Crashers), Gugu Mbatha-Raw, as well as Richard E. Grant. 

The series has been described as a six-episode movie that will be released on the Disney+ streaming app in May 2021. 

Do we actually want more Loki? 

Look, we’re not trying to pick on Loki. In fact, an argument can be made that most of the MCU’s original cast have outplayed their roles in this universe – which is perhaps why many of them saw closure in Avengers: Endgame while others, like Thor, saw a complete revamp to make the character fresh & exciting. 

Loki, a great character in the first three phases of the MCU, played his part, even seeing a noble & honorable death that was ultimately avenged by his brother, Thor. 

Loki returning, even if it’s another dimension’s version of the character, feels like a lazy way of reinventing the character without actually changing out any of his parts. It feels as if we’ve seen all this character has to offer, leaving us unimpressed the next time he turns sides or even dies, as we’ll know that, because it’s Loki, it’s probably not as simple as it appears. 

While other Disney+ shows tackle a completely original concept like WandaVision or characters that have mostly sat on the sidelines such as the characters in the upcoming The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki feels like another attempt to keep a character around that should’ve said goodbye a long time ago. 

Go play a James Bond villain, Tom Hiddleston. There are new roles out there in dire need of your talent!