Behind-the-scenes on Loki's "reality-breaking" romance
Marvel's God of Mischief is falling in love with himself. Kind of. **WARNING: SPOILERS FOR EPISODE FOUR**
The head writer behind Marvel's Loki series, the director and Tom Hiddleston himself have discussed the show's unexpected romance, which sees the title character fall in love with Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino), an alternate version of himself.
Longtime followers of the MCU will know that Loki (Tom Hiddleston) has always been a bit of a narcissist, but this latest development could come as a shock regardless.
It has certainly sent the TVA's very own Agent Mobius (Owen Wilson) reeling, with the character describing the romance as "sick" and "twisted" as well as warning that it "could break reality" in this week's fourth episode.
Following the launch of the latest episode, which packed a number of surprise twists and cameos, writer Michael Waldron has explained this budding new relationship in a brand new interview.
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"That was one of the cruxes of my pitch [for the series], that there was going to be a love story,” he told Marvel.com. “We went back and forth for a little bit about, like do we really want to have this guy fall in love with another version of himself? Is that too crazy? But in a series that, to me, is ultimately about self-love, self-reflection, and forgiving yourself, it just felt right that that would be Loki's first real love story."
The first overt acknowledgement of the spark between Loki and Sylvie comes at the start of episode four, as they face annihilation on the doomed planet of Lamentis-1 and share a meaningful glance.
Waldron continued: "The look that they share, that moment, [it started as] a blossoming friendship. Then for the first time, they both feel that twinge of, ‘Oh, could this be something more? What is this I'm feeling?’ These are two beings of pure chaos that are the same person falling in love with one another. That's a straight-up and down branch, and exactly the sort of thing that would terrify the TVA."
This perplexing turn of events does indeed cause the rapid growth of a new branch from the Sacred Timeline, allowing the TVA to rescue their troublesome Loki variants at the very last second.
Series director Kate Herron added that, while Loki and Sylvie are technically the same person, they are not simply carbon copies of each other, so there is an element of friction to their dynamic.
She added: "I think that was the kind of fun thing about it. She is him, but she's not him. They've had such different life experiences. So just from an identity perspective, it was interesting to dig into that."
Addressing the romance, series lead Hiddleston said: “I don't think Loki's relationship with himself has been very healthy. Trying to accept those aspects of himself, which he's been on the run from, was a way of thinking about that in a really interesting way.
"Also, Sylvie's not Loki. Sylvie is Sylvie. That's interesting, too. I'm really excited to see what people make of it," he added.
Loki episodes 1-4 are streaming on Disney Plus, with new episodes every Wednesday thereafter. You can sign up for £7.99 per month or £79.90 for a full year now. Looking for something else to watch? Visit our Sci-Fi and Fantasy pages or our full TV Guide.
