Key information
– Arriving mid-2023 on Disney Plus
– Part of Marvel’s Phase 5 line-up
– Filming reportedly wrapped in mid-October
– Moon Knight directors helming season 2
– Story will pick up right after the first season
– Multiple cast members set to return
– New cast announcements made in December
– First footage shown in Disney Plus 2023 trailer
– Show will impact other Phase 5 projects
Loki season 2 is gearing up to be a huge Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) TV show. The next installment in the wildly popular Disney Plus series arrives later this year, but its impact will be felt through multiple MCU projects.
Just as Loki season 1 laid the foundations for Kang the Conqueror’s arrival in MCU Phase 4, its successor will play a major role in setting up Marvel Phase 5 and Phase 6 projects. Expect Loki’s second season to further cement the trickster god’s solo series as one of the best Disney Plus shows ever.
What do we know about Loki season 2 before it launches, then? You’ll find everything worth knowing about the Marvel TV series in this guide, including its confirmed cast, possible storylines, the show’s future, and its likely release date on Disney Plus.
Full spoilers follow for Loki season 1. We discuss rumors about the show’s next outing, too, so skip our cast and plot sections (when we tell you to) if you’re avoiding spoilers ahead of release.
Loki season 2 release date
Loki season 2 doesn’t have an official release date, but Marvel confirmed it’ll arrive in mid-2023 (opens in new tab), which we previously suggested.
Eric Martin – a staff writer on half of Loki season 1’s episodes – has penned all six entries, with Moon Knight directing duo Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead helming the show. Given Benson and Moorhead’s penchant for indie horror and the supernatural, Loki’s next adventure could be more frightening and spooky than its predecessor. According to The Direct (opens in new tab), season 2 will have a TV-14 rating.
Michael Waldron, who wrote season 1, has returned as an executive producer. Composer Natalie Holt is also back after creating season 1’s hauntingly beautiful score.
Loki season 2 trailer
There’s no trailer yet, but Loki season 2’s first footage debuted during Marvel’s D23 Expo 2022 panel.
The sizzle reel begins with Hiddleston’s Loki greeting someone but he begins to glitch out in the same way that characters in Sony’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse did.
Next, the teaser shows Loki chiseling away at a TVA wall to unearth a massive, bronze face of Kang the Conqueror before we cut to Loki meeting Ke Huy Quan’s unnamed TVA employee. A quick shot of Sylvie listening to music is shown next, before Loki and Mobius – dressed in tuxedos – are seen attending a black tie event alongside numerous Loki variants. Before we get an explanation about why so many have *ahem* assembled, the teaser ends with Loki falling through the middle of a huge TVA building.
Interestingly, some of this footage is also shown in a Disney Plus 2023 teaser trailer. We see Loki looking at someone off-camera while he holds a box of, well, something. We also see that shot of Loki and Mobius in their tuxedos, presumably with two other Loki variants (or maybe it’s one of his magic tricks?) standing alongside them. Check it out below:
Loki season 2 cast
Here’s Loki season 2’s cast list so far:
- Tom Hiddleston as Loki
- Owen Wilson as Agent Mobius
- Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Ravonna Renslayer
- Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror
- Eugene Cordero as Casey
- Tara Strong as Miss Minutes
- Rafael Casal as TBC
- Ke Quy Huan as TBC
- Kate Dickie as TBC
Tom Hiddleston, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Owen Wilson, and Sophia di Martino are all back. Jonathan Majors’ Kang the Conqueror, or one of his variants (according to MCU leaker DanielRPK (opens in new tab)), will also appear following Majors’ Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania appearance.
Ke Huy Quan (Indiana Jones, Everything Everywhere All at Once) and, per Deadline (opens in new tab), Kate Dickie (Game of Thrones) have been announced as new cast members, but their roles are a mystery.
Eugene Cordero’s scene-stealing TVA employee Casey returns and has been bumped to a series regular (via Deadline (opens in new tab)). Tara Strong, who voiced Miss Minutes in season 1, has also confirmed she’ll be back (via PopVerse (opens in new tab)). Based on season 1’s ending, Wunmi Mosaku should also return as Hunter B-15, with Loki running into an alternate reality version of her character (along with Mobius) at a different Time Variance Authority (TVA).
Potential spoilers for Loki season 2’s cast follow after the tweet below.
Glorious! Fans at #D23Expo dove further into the Multiverse with a first look at Marvel Studios’ #Loki Season 2: https://t.co/9mv7RUo2nU pic.twitter.com/ytOZ4zY0mYSeptember 11, 2022
Loki season 2 was thought to include a superhero team called the Squadron Supreme. In the comics, this supergroup hailed from a parallel reality to Earth-616 – the main Marvel comics universe – called Earth-Squadron. Members of this outfit have included lesser-known heroes including Nighthawk, Doctor Spectrum, Hyperion, and Power Princess.
However, that appears incredibly unlikely now. Henry Cavill (The Witcher, Enola Holmes) refuted suggestions he’d been cast as Hyperion (per Josh Horowitz (opens in new tab)), while multiple MCU insiders have played down rumors about the Squadron Supreme’s appearance.
That might explain why Rafael Casel has reportedly joined the cast. Deadline (opens in new tab) reports he’ll have a major role to play, with DanielRPK (via MCU News (opens in new tab)) suggesting he’s portraying a rogue TVA agent, who escapes into the 1970s and becomes a movie star. Online speculation also points at Dickie being season 2’s primary antagonist, who could have something to do with Casel’s villainous TVA employee.
Loki season 2 plot
Unsurprisingly, plot details are scarce. However, the cast has teased what we can expect from Loki season 2’s story.
Per Entertainment Weekly (opens in new tab) (EW), Tom Hiddleston hinted it’ll focus on “the battle for the soul of the TVA”, adding that it’ll pose the questions “Who am I?” and “Where am I?”.
Speaking to US talk show host Jimmy Fallon (opens in new tab), Gugu Mbatha-Raw added: “Because my character deals with time and the TVA, being back in that world, it’s like no time has passed”. Considering Loki’s TV series messes with the time-space continuum – its events technically exists out of time, after all – Mbatha-Raw’s comments are to be expected. In a chat with Entertainment Tonight (opens in new tab), Mbatha-Raw also said: “[In season 2] selfishly, Renslayer makes it out of the TVA, which I’m really excited about. Fans are in for a real treat because the show is bolder and more surreal. And, in many ways, goes to some bigger, bolder places than season 1.”
Speaking to ComicBook.com (opens in new tab), directors Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson say viewers can expect “something new and fresh”, while Waldron believes it was key for the writing team to find “a new story to tell” (per DiscussingFilm (opens in new tab)), otherwise a second season wasn’t worth doing.
📸NEW: Tom Hiddleston and Owen Wilson on the set of season 2 of Loki. pic.twitter.com/TSrYUTPoYMJuly 13, 2022
It seems Loki season 2 will examine the character’s emotional side, with Waldron telling Deadline’s Hero Nation podcast (opens in new tab): “It felt like we had new emotional ground to cover with Loki. That’s the only way into season 2. We absolutely found that. It’s a great continuation of that story that feels different from season one and hopefully will subvert expectations.”
For Hiddleston, continuing to explore Loki’s road to redemption is something he was also keen on. “I understand the audience sees good in Loki – they want him to get past his internal and external obstacles,” he told Variety (opens in new tab). “They want him to repair that relationship with his brother and step into the hero that he can be.
“He realizes, ‘Actually, I can choose my path and choose to do the right thing. Or I choose, at least, not to repeat the same old tricks that I repeated over and over in a cycle of trust and betrayal.’ It’s exciting to retain all the characteristics that makes Loki, Loki, and at the same time to play slightly different music within him.”
Don’t expect any plot leaks from Owen Wilson this time around, though. Speaking to Variety (opens in new tab), Wilson confirmed he’d had his proverbial knuckles rapped by Marvel for revealing his character had a moustache (before season 1 arrived), leading fans to deduce he was playing Agent Mobius.
Potential spoilers for Loki season 2 follow.
It appears one episode will be set in the 1970s, with Loki and Agent Mobius dressed in tuxedos in a period setting. Per the footage we’ve seen, that’s certainly the case.
However, one of the posters of a really obscure Marvel hero – Phone Ranger – suggests this time period could be the 1980s. Phone Ranger didn’t make his comic debut until 1985, so it would be strange if he’s referenced in an episode set in the 70s. Given the show’s time travel and multiversal aspects, though, Marvel could pass this off as Phone Ranger debuting earlier in a different universe.
There’s also an Eternals reference among the leaked images of posters – could we see a cameo from Kumail Nanjiani’s Kingo? – while other leaked photographs show a McDonald’s restaurant will be a key location (thanks to TikTok user Joel Sutton (opens in new tab) for the footage).
One of Loki season 2’s early plot points should deal with the fallout of Loki turning up in a different TVA. In the season 1 finale, Loki found himself in a TVA that he recognizes, alongside people that he knows, but none of them are aware of who he is.
It seems Loki will reveal all about Kang (Jonathan Majors) and join forces with Mobius to stop him. That would allow Mobius and Loki reprise to their buddy cop relationship from season 1’s early episodes. We don’t expect them to be successful, however, what with Kang installed as the main antagonist of the Multiverse Saga, which spans Phases 4, 5, and 6 of the MCU.
We might also find out more about the inner workings of the TVA. As Hiddleston told Marvel.com (opens in new tab), the “moral complexity” of the TVA is a fascinating subject. It was only touched upon in season 1, so we could get a better look at how it functions, its values, and the moral compass of its work force. Intriguingly, DanielRPK (via the Marvel CineVerse Twitter account (opens in new tab)) suggests a new temporal concept called the Time Loom will play an integral role in explaining the TVA’s formation and how it exists outside of time and space.
One thing we will learn about the TVA is how Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will affect it, with Waldron saying: “How did the events of this movie play out through the lens of the TVA? What would they look like on a chronomonitor? I don’t know. We’ll have to find out” (thanks to the Doctor Strange Updates Twitter fan account (opens in new tab) for the quotes).
As for He Who Remains, will he reappear? Seeing as he was killed by Sylvie in season 1’s finale, no – but we’ll definitely see Kang (or one of his variants). It’s unclear if this Kang will be the MCU’s primary version, but the season 1 finale ended with Loki looking at a statue of what appeared to be Kang in the TVA, so it’s possible this is the same one who’ll appear in Ant-Man 3.
Speaking of Kang, Renslayer has a close relationship with the time-traveling evil genius in Marvel comics. But, chatting to Digital Spy (opens in new tab), Mbatha-Raw admitted she wasn’t sure about the direction of Renslayer’s character arc, saying: “Honestly, I genuinely don’t know where it’s going. I feel like there’s so much potential, especially when you’re dealing with time, as Renslayer does, you know?”
Meanwhile, Di Martino is unsure what’s in store for Sylvie, telling Elle magazine (opens in new tab): “I don’t know anything about season 2. I don’t know how far it’s going to be removed from what happened at the end of series 1. I don’t know if she will have changed again by the time we see her again. I don’t know where she’ll be, what headspace she’ll be in. I assume she’ll fundamentally still be the same character, but the multiverse makes even [that] a little bit complicated.”
Finally, could Mobius’ wish about owning a jet-ski come true in Loki season 2? A leaked image (per Reddit (opens in new tab)) shows filming taking place at an undisclosed location adorned with jet-ski advertising. Here’s hoping Mobius gets to ‘jet’ off into the sunset this time. You know, if season 2 is the second and final installment in Loki’s solo adventures.
Loki season 2: how will it impact the MCU?
Marvel fans know how important Loki season 1 has already been for The Multiverse Saga. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige doubled down on that in September 2022, saying Loki’s second season connects all three phases together (per Marvel.com (opens in new tab)), so it’s possible a third season could be greenlit for Phase 6.
Regardless of whether that’s in the offing, the impact of Loki and Sylvie’s actions is already being felt. Spider-Man: No Way Home was affected by multiversal events, while Doctor Strange 2 examined it in greater detail. The first season of What If…?, Marvel’s animated anthology TV series, was also loosely connected to Loki’s first season, based on its exploration of alternate versions of MCU characters and the dimensions they inhabit.
As for upcoming MCU projects, Jonathan Majors’ Kang is set to play a major role. He’s one of three villains in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, which arrives in February 2023, and he’ll feature heavily throughout the Multiverse Saga. He’ll even get his own Thanos-style Avengers movie, with Marvel revealing The Kang Dynasty as the official title for Avengers 5, which arrives in May 2025.
Loki season 2 could have ties to Marvel’s Fantastic Four MCU film, too. Comic fans will know that Kang is linked to Doctor Doom, the infamous Fantastic Four villain. So it’s plausible that this superhero group could end up battling Doctor Doom and a Kang variant in their first solo MCU adventure, which is slated to land in theaters in November 2024.
Armor Wars, which will star Don Cheadle as War Machine/James Rhodes and is now being developed as an MCU movie, might link to Kang if Marvel decides to bring Iron Lad (another Kang variant) into the equation. Armor Wars’ events will be kicked off by Secret Invasion, another MCU TV show launching in 2023, so Loki season 2 could even affect the Nick Fury-starring series, too.
Multiple Marvel leakers have claimed Loki season 2 could even impact Deadpool 3, with the multiverse a potential route into the MCU for the Merc With a Mouth (oh, and Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, too).
X-Men 97, a long overdue sequel to the beloved 1990s-era animated series, could have ties to the multiverse, what with it existing in its own pocket Marvel universe years before the MCU’s arrival. It seems, then, that Loki season 2 (and its predecessor) have a lot to answer for when it comes to the multiverse’s arrival and wider impact on the MCU.
For more MCU-based content, find out how to watch the Marvel movies in order. Alternatively, read up on where Loki season 1 was placed in our Marvel Phase 4 ranked article.