# Loki (TV series)
**Loki** is an American television series produced by [Marvel Studios](https://www.edgepedia.org/marvel-studios) for the Disney+ streaming service, based on the [Marvel Comics](https://www.edgepedia.org/marvel-comics) character Loki, the God of Mischief. [Tom Hiddleston](https://www.edgepedia.org/tom-hiddleston) reprises his film role as the title character, who is arrested by the Time Variance Authority (TVA), a bureaucratic organization that polices the timeline, after his escape with the Tesseract during the time-travel sequence of *Avengers: Endgame* (2019). The series ran for two seasons of six episodes each, from 2021 to 2023, with Kate Herron directing the first season and Michael Waldron serving as creator and head writer.[1](https://www.disneyplus.com/browse/entity-8f8c5cbb-e5ba-4285-9e2c-86abcac9fd50) • [2](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/loki/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Network and run | Disney+, 2021 to 2023, two seasons of six episodes each; rated TV-14[1](https://www.disneyplus.com/browse/entity-8f8c5cbb-e5ba-4285-9e2c-86abcac9fd50) • [2](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/loki/) |
| Premieres | Season 1 premiered June 9, 2021 (Marvel's press profile lists a U.S. premiere of June 11, 2021); season 2 premiered October 6, 2023[2](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/loki/) • [3](https://lumiere-a.akamaihd.net/v1/documents/loki_project_profile_3-17-21_86b2d2a1.pdf) • [4](https://lumiere-a.akamaihd.net/v1/documents/loki_2_project_profile_7-10-23_9f398cd9.pdf) |
| Key creative team | Directed by Kate Herron (season 1); created and head-written by Michael Waldron[1](https://www.disneyplus.com/browse/entity-8f8c5cbb-e5ba-4285-9e2c-86abcac9fd50) |
| Principal cast | Tom Hiddleston (Loki), Owen Wilson (Mobius), Sophia Di Martino (Sylvie), Wunmi Mosaku (Hunter B-15), Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Ravonna Renslayer), Tara Strong (Miss Minutes), Ke Huy Quan (Ouroboros), Jonathan Majors (He Who Remains, Victor Timely)[2](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/loki/) |
| Critical reception | Metascore 70 for season 1 based on 55 critic reviews (69% positive, 31% mixed, 0% negative); season 2 scored 65[2](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/loki/) |
| Viewership | The season 2 finale drew 11.2 million global views on Disney+ in its first three days, the second most viewed Disney+ season finale of 2023 behind *The Mandalorian* season 3[5](https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/news/loki-finale-numbers/) |
| Continuity | Set after *Avengers: Endgame*; its first season introduced the Kang the Conqueror storyline to the Marvel Cinematic Universe[6](https://time.com/6319633/marvel-tv-shows-ranked/) |
## Spoilers
### Premise and setting
The series follows a variant of Loki, the 2012 version of the character who escaped custody during the Avengers' "Time Heist" in *Avengers: Endgame*, a possibility the film itself teased.[6](https://time.com/6319633/marvel-tv-shows-ranked/) • [7](https://sfrareview.org/2021/10/20/review-of-loki/) He is picked up by the [Time Variance Authority](https://www.edgepedia.org/time-variance-authority) and tried as a "Variant," someone who disrupts the flow of the Sacred Timeline, the single timeline the TVA protects against divergence.[7](https://sfrareview.org/2021/10/20/review-of-loki/) TVA agent Mobius ([Owen Wilson](https://www.edgepedia.org/owen-wilson)) enlists Loki to help stop another variant, who turns out to be Sylvie ([Sophia Di Martino](https://www.edgepedia.org/sophia-di-martino)), a female version of Loki.[6](https://time.com/6319633/marvel-tv-shows-ranked/) • [8](https://themoviespoiler.com/movies/loki/)
The show's setting is deliberately anachronistic. The TVA's retro-futuristic design mixes Brutalist and mid-century architecture, archaic computers, and an animated AI mascot, Miss Minutes (voiced by [Tara Strong](https://www.edgepedia.org/tara-strong)), whom one reviewer compared to *Jurassic Park*'s Mr. DNA.[7](https://sfrareview.org/2021/10/20/review-of-loki/) Production designer Kasra Farahani built oppressive, brutalist sets with lowered roofs and corridors built for filming.[9](https://rts.org.uk/article/how-disney-gave-new-lives-loki)
**Season arcs.** Season 1 builds to a confrontation at the end of time with He Who Remains ([Jonathan Majors](https://www.edgepedia.org/jonathan-majors)), a Kang variant who controls the timeline; when Sylvie stabs him, his grip on the universe is lost and the multiverse splinters into countless branches.[10](https://www.gamesradar.com/entertainment/marvel-tv-shows/5-years-on-its-clear-loki-used-the-multiverse-better-than-anything-else-in-the-mcu/) Season 2 picks up in the aftermath, with Loki caught in a battle for the soul of the TVA, experiencing "time slipping" between past, present, and future as the TVA's temporal loom nears catastrophic failure.[11](https://press.disneyplus.com/media-kits/loki) • [1](https://www.disneyplus.com/browse/entity-8f8c5cbb-e5ba-4285-9e2c-86abcac9fd50) The season 2 finale, "[Glorious Purpose](https://www.edgepedia.org/glorious-purpose-loki-season-2)," sees Loki learn the true nature of "glorious purpose" as he rectifies the past.[1](https://www.disneyplus.com/browse/entity-8f8c5cbb-e5ba-4285-9e2c-86abcac9fd50)
## Production
The idea for a Loki series dates to the earliest conversations among Disney+ executives. Marvel Studios president [Kevin Feige](https://www.edgepedia.org/kevin-feige) said the concept was that "Loki would screw up a very well-thought-out time-travel plan," and Hiddleston joined as star and executive producer, re-shooting the key escape scene from *[The Avengers](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-avengers-2012-film)* (2012).[12](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/features/near-myth) Executive producers included Feige, Hiddleston, Herron, Louis D'Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Stephen Broussard, and Michael Waldron.[12](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/features/near-myth)
Hiddleston, who had played the character in MCU films since 2011, described the show's themes as identity and whether Loki can change, and prepared by re-reading Kafka's *The Trial* and Orwell's *1984*.[9](https://rts.org.uk/article/how-disney-gave-new-lives-loki) • [12](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/features/near-myth) Herron, whose previous credit was Netflix's *Sex Education*, directed all six episodes of season 1 and described the series as "a big love letter to sci-fi."[9](https://rts.org.uk/article/how-disney-gave-new-lives-loki) • [7](https://sfrareview.org/2021/10/20/review-of-loki/) Waldron said his work on the animated series *Rick and Morty* helped him introduce and explain large science-fiction concepts to audiences.[9](https://rts.org.uk/article/how-disney-gave-new-lives-loki) Executive producer Kevin Wright said season 2 aimed to ground its fantastical story through production and costume design.[13](https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/news/loki-premiere-disney-marvel-studios/)
## Reception
Season 1 received generally favorable reviews. On Metacritic it scored 70 based on 55 critic reviews, with 38 positive, 17 mixed, and none negative; the user score was 7.5 based on 1,118 ratings.[2](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/loki/) Critics highlighted Hiddleston's performance and the show's genre blend: Decider called it "a surrealist, kafkaesque mashup of *True Detective* and *The Office*," and Screen Daily described it as an "X-Files-style buddy-cop adventure."[14](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/loki/critic-reviews/) • [15](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/loki-tv-review/5160304.article) [The Verge](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-verge) called it perhaps the most standalone part of the MCU to date, "the best of what the superhero genre has to offer without all of the homework."[16](https://45179bb5-2a1f-4bc9-a93f-f86df27a1ff5.atarimworker.io/2021/7/14/22577248/loki-season-1-review-disney-plus)
Season 2 scored lower with critics, a Metascore of 65, though Rotten Tomatoes' roundup of first reviews called it "still the best MCU show" while noting the trickster god "loses some mojo."[2](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/loki/) • [17](https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/article/loki-season-2-first-reviews/) A GamesRadar retrospective ranked it eighth in [MCU Phase 5](https://www.edgepedia.org/marvel-cinematic-universe-phase-five), praising the finale as one of the finest Marvel TV episodes while criticizing its length and Jonathan Majors's performance as Victor Timely.[18](https://www.gamesradar.com/entertainment/marvel-movies/mcu-phase-5-every-movie-and-show-from-marvels-phase-5-ranked/) Time ranked the series third among Disney+ Marvel shows, crediting it with explaining the multiverse and the Sacred Timeline and with confirming Loki as a bisexual character.[6](https://time.com/6319633/marvel-tv-shows-ranked/)
## Viewership and MCU significance
The season 2 finale drew 11.2 million global views on Disney+ in its first three days, an increase over the season premiere, and every episode of the season topped 11 million views during its premiere week. Disney defines a view as total stream time divided by runtime.[5](https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/news/loki-finale-numbers/)
The series reshaped the MCU's direction. Its first season introduced [Kang the Conqueror](https://www.edgepedia.org/kang-the-conqueror), played by Jonathan Majors, as a new Thanos-level antagonist, and its multiverse premise fed into later films such as *Doctor Strange in the [Multiverse](https://www.edgepedia.org/multiverse-marvel-cinematic-universe) of Madness* (2022) and *Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania* (2023), whose post-credits scene ties directly into season 2.[6](https://time.com/6319633/marvel-tv-shows-ranked/) • [19](https://harvest.usask.ca/bitstreams/f73a6f5c-4f38-4696-af1a-9ea2d3558b92/download) Majors's arrest in March 2023 on assault and harassment charges, and his subsequent firing, left the character's future uncertain and reduced the lasting power of the He Who Remains storyline.[6](https://time.com/6319633/marvel-tv-shows-ranked/) • [10](https://www.gamesradar.com/entertainment/marvel-tv-shows/5-years-on-its-clear-loki-used-the-multiverse-better-than-anything-else-in-the-mcu/) A retrospective in GamesRadar+ argued that the series used the multiverse better than anything else in the MCU, wielding it "as a tool to untangle the broken psyche of its most complex villain."
As of the most recent reporting in the sources, there were no current plans for a third season.[20](https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.mediapost.com/uploads/TheSternbergReport196.pdf)
## References
1. [Loki | Watch on Disney+, Disney+](https://www.disneyplus.com/browse/entity-8f8c5cbb-e5ba-4285-9e2c-86abcac9fd50)
2. [Loki Reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/loki/)
3. [Marvel Studios "Loki" Season 1 Project Profile, Disney](https://lumiere-a.akamaihd.net/v1/documents/loki_project_profile_3-17-21_86b2d2a1.pdf)
4. [Marvel Studios "Loki" Season 2 Project Profile, Disney](https://lumiere-a.akamaihd.net/v1/documents/loki_2_project_profile_7-10-23_9f398cd9.pdf)
5. ['Loki' ends twisty second season with strong numbers for Marvel and Disney+, The Walt Disney Company](https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/news/loki-finale-numbers/)
6. [A Ranking of All the Marvel TV Shows on Disney+, Time](https://time.com/6319633/marvel-tv-shows-ranked/)
7. [Review of Loki, SFRA Review](https://sfrareview.org/2021/10/20/review-of-loki/)
8. [LOKI – The Movie Spoiler](https://themoviespoiler.com/movies/loki/)
9. [How Disney gave new lives to Loki, Royal Television Society](https://rts.org.uk/article/how-disney-gave-new-lives-loki)
10. [5 years on, it's clear Loki used the multiverse better than anything else in the MCU, GamesRadar+](https://www.gamesradar.com/entertainment/marvel-tv-shows/5-years-on-its-clear-loki-used-the-multiverse-better-than-anything-else-in-the-mcu/)
11. [Loki media kit, Disney+ Press](https://press.disneyplus.com/media-kits/loki)
12. [Near Myth, Television Academy (Emmy magazine)](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/features/near-myth)
13. ['Loki' Executive Producer Kevin Wright on Crafting a Twisty Second Season, The Walt Disney Company](https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/news/loki-premiere-disney-marvel-studios/)
14. [Loki critic reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/loki/critic-reviews/)
15. ['Loki': TV Review, Screen Daily](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/loki-tv-review/5160304.article)
16. [Loki season 1 review, The Verge](https://45179bb5-2a1f-4bc9-a93f-f86df27a1ff5.atarimworker.io/2021/7/14/22577248/loki-season-1-review-disney-plus)
17. [Loki First Reviews: Trickster God Loses Some Mojo in Season 2, Rotten Tomatoes](https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/article/loki-season-2-first-reviews/)
18. [MCU Phase 5: Every movie and show ranked, GamesRadar+](https://www.gamesradar.com/entertainment/marvel-movies/mcu-phase-5-every-movie-and-show-from-marvels-phase-5-ranked/)
19. [University of Saskatchewan thesis on MCU timeline canon](https://harvest.usask.ca/bitstreams/f73a6f5c-4f38-4696-af1a-9ea2d3558b92/download)
20. [The Sternberg Report](https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.mediapost.com/uploads/TheSternbergReport196.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Scripted television and comedy series › Adapted and franchise screen series › Comic-book and superhero television series › Marvel television series*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 19, 2026; Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 19, 2026; Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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