The actress teases what's to come in the anticipated MCU limited series.
While discussing her latest film, Summerland, British actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw opened up about joining Loki, the anticipated and tightly guarded Disney+ series starring Tom Hiddleston as the titular demi-god.
Set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Loki is expected to reveal where the god of mischief teleported with the Tesseract and explore what happens to him in his newly created timeline. In addition to Hiddleston, Sophia Di Martino, Owen Wilson and Mbatha-Raw flesh out the main cast, with the latter being described by Deadline as the “female lead.”
Although Mbatha-Raw didn’t reveal any details about her character, she did tease more about the concept of the limited series. “It goes to other places and you get to see that character mature in a different way,” she says, referring to Loki himself. “It’s going to be exciting for the fans to really see Tom and that character take the center of the story.”
When asked to describe the vibe of the series, she says “it’s tricky for me to say,” not wanting (or able) to offer any more specific details.
As ET previously reported, the series written by Michael Waldron (HarmonQuest) and executive produced by Marvel master Kevin Feige, is set after the events of the first Avengers in the in-universe year of 2012, but in an alternate timeline created when the current-day Avengers traveled back in time in Endgame.
“Just about the last thing that happened to him was he got Hulk-smashed,” Hiddleston explained. “It's a lot of psychological evolution that is still yet to happen. But Kevin has generously shown me what his plans are -- I can't tell you any of them -- but it is one of the most exciting, creative opportunities I've ever come across. This is new territory.”
Mbatha-Raw did, however, open up about working with director Kate Herron, who is helming all six episodes of Loki. “Kate's obviously earned her stripes to be in that production,” she says, praising her work on Netflix’s Sex Education.
“More than anything I was excited that it was being directed by one director,” she continues. (Prior to Loki, the actress was most recently on the Apple TV+ ensemble The Morning Show.) “To be a part of a limited series [that’s] not just like episodic television, where you have a different director every week, Kate really was going to direct all of the episodes, which I've never had that experience on TV. I know it’s obviously been done, but personally I’ve not had the experience of doing several episodes with the same director.”
Like Summerland and The Morning Show, which were both helmed by women, Mbatha-Raw says that Herron leading Loki was an “added bonus.”
In the meantime, the actress is looking forward to resuming production on the series, which was halted in March amid the coronavirus outbreak. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the series is expected to resume filming in Atlanta, Georgia, sometime in August.
“It’s all still being figured out at the moment, but fingers crossed,” Mbatha-Raw says. “I can’t wait… I’m excited to get back to work.”
RELATED CONTENT:
