First-time Marvel director Kate Herron is out of time on Loki. Episode 6 of the Marvel Studios series ended with the post-credits reveal of a Season 2 — making Loki the first of Marvel’s Disney+ series to get an official second season — but Herron had her own announcement to make Friday: she’s not returning to the director’s chair next season. After journeying into mystery with Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) in six episodes of the universe-breaking series setting up forthcoming Phase 4 projects like Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Herron explains why she’s moving on from the Marvel Cinematic Universe — not for all time always, but for now.
“I would say that when I joined Loki, it was always going to be those six episodes. We were treating it like a movie, and we were running it like a movie. We weren’t doing it in the showrunner system,” the Five by Five and Sex Education director told THR. “So it was a lot to direct these six episodes, and I gave it all of my energy and everything I had in my soul and in my heart. I threw everything I loved about Marvel at it. So I always intended just to do these six.”
It wasn’t until later in production that Disney-owned Marvel decided to continue the time-traveling misadventures of Loki, his many variants, Sylvie, Time Variance Authority agent Mobius M. Mobius (Owen Wilson), Judge Ravonna Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), and Miss Minutes (voice of Tara Strong).
“It was such a massive compliment and a delight that as we got much later into production, Marvel and Disney were like, ‘Ah, man. This is excellent, and we want to keep going.’ So I just feel like my part is done, but I’m really excited to see where it’s going to go next,” Herron said. “So I gave it all that I have, and it came from a place of love. I really enjoyed working on it, and I hope to work with Marvel again in the future. They changed my life, and I just love Marvel as I’m sure people can tell from the amount of Easter eggs and references I did throughout it.”
“But I just feel like I’ve done my part with Loki, at least for now, and I’m excited to see where it goes next as a fan,” Herron added.
Loki head writer Michael Waldron might also be exiting that position ahead of Season 2. Waldron previously inked an overall deal with Disney, penning such projects as the Sam Raimi-directed Doctor Strange 2 and producer Kevin Feige’s untitled Star Wars film.
Marvel has not announced a release date for Loki Season 2. All six episodes of Loki Season 1 are now streaming on Disney+.
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