Loki is back for more timeline shenanigans on Disney+.
Its been a while since the first season of the show about the trickster god aired, so if you’d like to know more about the second instalment and what it will be about, read on. You can also see our thoughts on the first few episodes of season 1 in our Loki review.
When do new episodes of Loki season 2 release?
Loki season 2 is rolling out episodes now on Disney+.
You can catch new episodes every Thursday from 6pm PST. This translates to Fridays at 2am BST in the UK. You can read more in our Loki season 2 episode release schedule.
The show was originally slated for a Summer 2023 release, but a later air date makes sense considering that Secret Invasion didn’t start airing until June 2023.
Loki is not the only Disney+ Marvel series to be delayed – Ironheart and What If…? season 2 also got the same treatment.
Is there a trailer for Loki season 2?
The first full trailer for Loki season 2 is here, which shows the God of Mischief glitching through time. Mobius is recruiting the assistance of OB, who is played by Oscar winner Ke Huy Quan. Watch it below:
The second trailer for Loki delves into his past, present and future:
What is the plot for Loki season 2?
Spoilers for the first season of Loki below.
Of all the MCU Disney+ shows in 2021, Loki undoubtedly has the biggest impact on the franchise. This is because of the reveal of He Who Remains, played by Jonathan Majors.
If you’re unfamiliar with the comics lore, He Who Remains is a variant of a villain called Kang the Conqueror. Kang has many versions of himself across time and usually is set on dominating them all.
The version that Loki and Sylvie met in the Citadel at the End of Time is most similar to Immortus, a relatively fair version of the character who just wants to return the timeline to an orderly form, hence his creation of the TVA and the lie about the existence of the Time Keepers.
By doing so, he’d stop the timeline from branching, and consequently prevent an all-out multiversal war from happening between the different Kangs. He knew everything that was going to happen before it had happened, right up until his conversation with the two Loki variants.
Sylvie decided that the mysterious man couldn’t be trusted, whilst Loki believed that he was telling the truth. The two fought, and it looked like Loki was about to convince her to his way of thinking – but then Sylvie distracted Loki with a kiss and sent him to another timeline and killed He Who Remains herself.
Kang the Conqueror was the main villain in Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, but we believe that his role is even bigger than that. We could be looking at the next Thanos, a villain that will transcend through many films and shows in Marvel.
Head writer Michael Waldron explains more about Kang in an interview on the Marvel website: “Knowing that Kang was probably going to be the next big cross-movie villain, and because he is a time-traveling, multiversal adversary, it just always made so much sense.
“I came up with that big multiversal war mythology and pitched it out in the room one day to our producers. And they said, yeah, let’s go for it. We knew we were going to end up meeting the man behind the curtain.”
When Loki returned to the TVA, in a shocking twist it appeared that he’d been sent to a completely different timeline – one where his old pal Mobius didn’t even recognise him, and where a big statue of Kang stood right in the middle, right where the statue of the Time Keepers used to be.
Everything that He Who Remains warned about seems to have come to pass. The timeline has branched over sixty times according to Mobius, and in the version that Loki has come back to, Kang is a ruthless leader.
Because we now have multiple branches of time, this version of Kang is a different to the one that appears in Ant-Man. It’s likely that we’ll see many versions, creating a never-ending villain that can pop up in many scenarios. This new villain has blown the MCU wide open.
Of course, that was the original plan. Majors has been at the centre of domestic violence accusations throughout this year, so there is still a big question mark on what will happen to this character going forward.
But what of other characters in the show? Judge Renslayer went off to find out who was responsible for creating chaos on the sacred timeline. Whether her search will take her to Kang remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, Sylvie was left in the Citadel after killing He Who Remains. After betraying Loki, we imagine that a reunion between the two may not go down so well next season, despite their rather strong and unique bond.
The second season will likely see Loki trying to return to the timeline with the Mobius that he knows, and attempting to restore order from Kang. The latest footage shows more variant Lokis entering the fray, and the trickster falling through the air.
The trailer reveals that a bunch of Loki variants will all be teaming up in London, and that Loki and Morbius will recruit OB to help them stop some time glitching issues.
In addition, the post-credits scene of Ant-Man 3 showed a Kang variant called Victor Timely. He is performing on a stage explaining how important time is in everyone’s lives, and how it can be shaped.
Watching on from the audience is none other than the God of Mischief, Loki. He’s sitting with his TVA pal Mobius, who seems dubious about whether this is a “terrifying figure”, but Loki simply replies with “he is”.
Some new merch images from Amazon France (as spotted by The Direct) shows Mobius in a new mech suit, and confirms that Hunter B-15 will be returning.
Loki season 2 cast and crew
So far the following cast members have been confirmed to return: Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Owen Wilson as Mobius, Sophia Di Martino as Sylvie/Lady Loki, Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Judge Ravonna Renslayer, Wunmi Mosaku as Hunter B-15 and Jonathan Majors as Kang.
Ke Huy Quan is also joining the cast – he is best known for playing Waymond in Everything, Everywhere, All At Once. He will be playing a character called OB, a TVA employee.
Rafael Casal and Kate Dickie are both joining the cast in unnamed (but important) roles – they could also be potential villains in the upcoming season.
It’d also be great to see the other variants of Loki return – including Richard E. Grant as Old Man Loki, Jack Veal as Kid Loki and Deobia Oparei as Boastful Loki.
Eric Martin will serve as head writer, whilst Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead will co-lead the directing team.
Sadly, showrunner Kate Herron will not be back. Herron gave an interview to Deadline stating that she’d only ever planned to work for one season and has other projects in the pipeline that she has to work on instead.
How to watch Loki
Loki is a Disney Plus exclusive, which means you can only watch it on there. At the time of writing, Disney+ costs $10.99/£7.99 per month for an ad-free rolling subscription and $109.99/£79.90 for an annual ad-free pass. You can sign up for Disney Plus here.
With a subscription, you can also watch the likes of The Mandalorian, The Simpsons and the majority of the Marvel films.
Author: Hannah Cowton-Barnes, Entertainment Editor, Tech Advisor
As Tech Advisor's Entertainment Editor, Hannah is the resident expert in all things streaming, film and TV. Before joining Tech Advisor in 2019, she studied Theatre and Performance at the University of Leeds and created a website dedicated to geek culture and lifestyle. She's also reviewed a whole range of gadgets including flagship smartphones, wearables and styling tools. Outside of Foundry, she's written freelance pieces for Polygon, Metro and Den of Geek, and is proud to be a Women Techmakers Ambassador for Google.