Loki Season 1 Was Originally The End For Marvel Show, Reveals Writer
Loki season 2 wasn't originally in the cards according to writer Michael Waldron, who says the show was originally supposed to end after one season. Premiering on Disney+ in June 2021, Loki was the third Marvel series after WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. It picked up with the titular God of Mischief after he absconded with the Tesseract during the Avengers' time heist in Endgame, creating a new timeline. Tom Hiddleston returned to lead the cast as Loki alongside Owen Wilson as Agent Mobius, Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Judge Ravonna Renslayer, and Sophia Di Martino as Sylvie.
To date, Loki stands as the popular Marvel series to grace Disney+, clocking in at over 5 billion minutes watched on the streaming service. Not only did Loki lay the groundwork for Marvel's burgeoning multiverse, but it surprised viewers with an appearance from Jonathan Majors as He Who Remains, a variant of Kang the Conqueror, during the season 1 finale. Majors' next confirmed appearance is 2023's Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and is expected to be the MCU's next Thanos-level villain. The final episode ended with one more surprise, as a post-credits scene revealed that Loki season 2 was on the way.
In an interview with The Playlist, Waldron revealed that Loki season 2 wasn't the plan from the start. When he originally conceived and wrote the show, Waldron was operating under the assumption that Loki would be a one-and-done miniseries. It was only during episode 6 that he decided the show has "a lot more gas left in the tank." Knowing this beforehand wouldn't have drastically changed how Waldron wrote Loki season 1 though, as he believes it's important for each season to stand on its own. Read what he shared below:
Originally, I mean, I really conceive and wrote a lot of the show kind of operating as though it would just be one season, which is the best way to do these things. And frankly, this is how I would’ve operated, even if I had known we were going to get a second season. I think it’s important for each season to really stand alone as its own thing. And so, yeah, I mean, it became clear, even as we were making it and still kind of refining episode six, that it felt like hey, this cast, this world is great and wow, there’s a lot more gas left in the tank. And yeah, there is certainly more story to tell here. And so that’s when we sort of shifted some things.
It's understandable that Waldron didn't originally think Loki would continue past season 1. The two MCU shows which predated it, WandaVision and Falcon and the Winter Soldier, did not receive season 2 renewals, nor has any other live-action Marvel series. What If...? is the only other show that has, but as an animated anthology series, it is a bit different in nature. It's clear that both Loki's multiverse hopping plot and Hiddleston's status as a fan-favorite character both contributed to Marvel's decision to continue with the series beyond season 1. Seeing as Loki also seems to be integral to the future of the MCU in general, it also makes sense that it would continue and could possibly play a major role as the next saga comes to a head.
Additionally, not only is Waldron returning on Loki in some capacity, but he is now the main architect of Marvel's multiverse as the sole screenwriter behind Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Numerous characters from Loki have been rumored to crossover to that film (including the God of Mischief himself), which should help inform the events of Loki season 2. The sophomore season is set to begin filming any day now, and will likely hit Disney+ sometime in 2023 before Ant-Man 3.
Source: The Playlist