Things We Saw Today: I’m Fine With the Loki Series Going All Quantum Leap

According to Loki‘s executive producer, the upcoming Disney+ series starring Tom Hiddleston as the God of Mischief will have “a huge time travel component.” Fire up Ziggy and let’s get this show on the road!

CBR quotes Loki executive producer Stephen Broussard:

Broussard explained in the Marvel Studios: Exploring the Universe special released on Disney+ yesterday. “There will be a man on the run quality to it, and we get the chance to explore the more human sides of Loki.”

We’ve known for a while that Loki would have time travel in it, with rumors that Loki would be popping up throughout various times in history as an unlikely influencer. That premise was what first made me think of Quantum Leap, the cult science fiction show from the ’80s-early ’90s starring Scott Bakula as a scientist who, after an accident, essentially leaps into people’s bodies throughout history to right some wrong or alter an event with repercussions before leaping to the next point in time.

While Bakula’s Dr. Sam Beckett tried to be altruistic on Quantum Leap, it’s obviously unclear what could be motivating the mercurial Loki. With Broussard’s comments, however, it’s driven home that time travel is the motif that the story is propelled forward by. Another question that pops up is whether Loki will look like himself at these various points in history, and be acting as Loki, or—rather like Sam, again—whether Loki might look like Hiddleston to the rest of us but everyone else sees an illusion when they look at him. It would be incredible if the show decided to evoke Loki’s comics canon genderfluidity and queer identity on the show, which could be awesomely explored across history, but I won’t hold my breath.

“A Man on the run quality to it” is also fascinating. Who could be pursuing Loki? Well, probably a broad number of folks, from Avengers to Thanos’ minions to the no doubt countless he has pissed off over the millennia. Lest we forget, as far as we know this will be the 2012 Loki from the Avengers that escapes with the Tesseract in Endgame. This Loki is a war criminal on Earth and a traitor to Asgard.

Ragnarok-era Loki, who reconciled with Thor and seemingly reclaimed his identity as an Odinson before trying to kill Thanos and getting his neck snapped for the trouble, is dead (we think). This means that the character growth and development Loki underwent in the original MCU timeline could be rewritten here and go a lot differently.

But is “our” Loki even really dead?

There has been no word yet on where Tom Hiddleston’s God of Mischief will go, though Hiddleston himself previously confirmed the series will address Loki’s fate in Avengers: Infinity War as well as his plans for the Tesseract. “Two questions I’ve been asked: Is Loki really dead, and what is Loki doing with that?” Hiddleston said last month. “It’s always the cubes. This series will answer both of the questions.”

I guess when you have a show involving super-powered magic-using space-gods armed with a cosmic cube that can warp the fabric of space (and time now too?) a lot of possibilities can remain on the table. I hope they give Loki a trusty friend like Dean Stockwell’s Al was to Sam on Quantum Leap. Even Gods on the run need a pal who has their back. Actually, can we just get Dean Stockwell on the line?

(via CBR, images: Marvel Studios, NBC)

What else did we see today?

• AOC plays League of Legends, enough said. (via Twitter)
• Venice, Italy is seeing the worst flood tides in 50 years, with its mayor pointing to climate change. (via NPR)
• At her “woman of the year” speech, Megan Rapinoe thanked Colin Kaepernick. (via Bustle)
• “This Tom Hanks Story Will Help You Feel Less Bad” (via NYTimes)
• Stephen Colbert trolls Disney+ over its launch day buffering issues. (via Comicbook)

What did you see today?

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Kaila Hale-Stern

Kaila Hale-Stern (she/her) is a content director, editor, and writer who has been working in digital media for more than fifteen years. She started at TMS in 2016. She loves to write about TV—especially science fiction, fantasy, and mystery shows—and movies, with an emphasis on Marvel. Talk to her about fandom, queer representation, and Captain Kirk. Kaila has written for io9, Gizmodo, New York Magazine, The Awl, Wired, Cosmopolitan, and once published a Harlequin novel you'll never find.

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