{"id":27078,"date":"2021-06-16T16:29:32","date_gmt":"2021-06-16T06:29:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/?post_type=articles&#038;p=195483"},"modified":"2021-06-17T11:24:21","modified_gmt":"2021-06-17T11:24:21","slug":"loki-kate-herron-michael-waldron-interview","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/loki-kate-herron-michael-waldron-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"LOKI: The Art To Developing A Character That&#8217;s Neither A Villain Or Hero"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_195485\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-195485\" style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption alignfull -width\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignfull-width size-full wp-image-195485\" src=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/TGD3260_101_comp_v007.1002.jpg\" alt=\"LOKI\" width=\"1024\" height=\"429\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-195485\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Loki (Tom\u00a0Hiddleston) in Marvel Studios&#8217; LOKI, exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. \u00a9Marvel Studios 2021. All Rights Reserved.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h5>GRAZIA: Loki is unlike any other character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he exists in the grey areas where so many of his counterparts are purely good or evil. How far does this series go in absolving or redeeming Loki if at all and how important was this to the story line?<\/h5>\n<p>Kate Herron: \u201cI\u2019d say it was hugely important to the story line. Our show is about identity and as you mentioned, the grey area. I think Loki exists very comfortably in that space and we never know whether he\u2019s going to be good or going to be bad. I think a question for me at the core of the show was is anyone truly good or truly bad and aren\u2019t we all just in that grey area?<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s so chaotic and he\u2019s in this bureaucratic organization that follows order. I would definitely say that a theme across the show is following identity and that grey area, but not just with Loki, with everyone in the show. Like, will our past actions always define us, or can we move past them, can we grow and how?\u201d<\/p>\n<h5>In episode one Loki has such a difficult time grappling with time, his existence, and his purpose. This really brings a sense of humanity to his character perhaps for the first time. Why was this important to reveal first and foremost in the series?<\/h5>\n<p>Michael Waldron: \u201cI think it\u2019s because we knew that this was a character that had had several movies of growth beyond this version&#8230; Loki experienced the events of <em>Thor: The Dark World<\/em>, <em>Thor: Ragnarok<\/em> and then died in <em>Infinity War<\/em>. He did sort of arc out a little bit in those movies. And so, it was important to me and to our writers that we bring him up to speed in a way and make him aware of the journey he would have gone on. So that\u2019s in the back of his mind and the audience isn\u2019t just ahead of the hero in that way&#8230; And now we get to take this guy on a whole new journey.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Marvel Studios&#039; Loki | Official Trailer | Disney+\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nW948Va-l10?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h5>What preparation went into beginning to write this film? As you said, it\u2019s leaning Loki into a whole new journey as well as leaving space for spinoffs and other branches of the Marvel Universe. How did you start that writing journey?<\/h5>\n<p>MW: \u201cFirst I had to dig up all the weird comics from the 70s which had the TVA (Time Variance Authority) in them. It was familiarizing myself with that world and then it was going back and really re-watching all the movies with Loki, with an academic psychologist point of view. Trying to diagnose who this character is, because I knew that was the question I wanted to explore. I had to go from experiencing the MCU as just a fan to really studying it almost academically to start that writing process.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>KH: \u201cIt was always designed to be these six episodes, so we wanted to tell a good story about Loki. But I guess the most exciting thing I would say for future spinoffs is that we\u2019re setting up the TVA and I hope that Marvel will use them in the future.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_195487\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-195487\" style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption alignfull -width\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignfull-width size-full wp-image-195487\" src=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/A159C002_101_TRL_20100502_r709_UHD.01270998.jpg\" alt=\"LOKI\" width=\"1024\" height=\"455\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-195487\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Judge Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) in Marvel Studios&#8217; LOKI exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. \u00a9Marvel Studios 2021. All Rights Reserved.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h5>What was it like working with Tom and how involved was he in developing Loki\u2019s identity?<\/h5>\n<p>KH: \u201cTom was very involved. We had this amazing walk around New York where we spoke about the character. We both were really excited about the centre of his identity\u2026 As a fan it was very exciting because he was talking about his experiences over the last ten years, but also his acting choices and how he thought Loki felt in each moment. That definitely had an effect across all of the departments. I think it sparked ideas for everyone. He\u2019s been an amazing creative force I would say, across the production.\u201d<\/p>\n<h5>There are aspects like the TVA that have been pulled from the comics. How much leeway are you allowed to depart from the rules and laws of the comic books in this series?<\/h5>\n<p>MW: \u201cThis is a totally original story, Loki has never really [been] in a time adventure like this so there was no particular comics that we were looking at. But what I was doing was drawing inspiration from the comics at every. So, you\u2019ve got a lot of leeway but you\u2019re not doing yourself any favours if you don\u2019t rely on the comics because that is the eternal wellspring of ideas that we can just keep pulling from.\u201d<\/p>\n<h5>Where did you draw inspiration for the set?<\/h5>\n<p>KH: \u201cI just wanted the show to be this big love letter to Sci-Fi, so I stole from everyone. I\u2019m sure people would see \u201cBrazil\u201d, \u201cBladerunner\u201d, \u201cAlien\u201d, the book \u201cThe Hitchhiker\u2019s Guide to the Galaxy\u201d. I think it\u2019s because we\u2019re going to this really interesting place that\u2019s outside of time and space. It\u2019s not in the past and it\u2019s not in the future. It\u2019s almost this vague office space where there isn\u2019t day and there isn\u2019t night, and I definitely pulled from the comics a lot because they had these amazing images of rows of desks going off into the infinite. That\u2019s what you see in the first episode when Loki looks over the viewpoint, there\u2019s an office that\u2019s a city stretching out into nothing. I think I was definitely inspired by those but also just trying to bring some levels of reality to this weird office. So, I think that was the fun of it, I didn\u2019t really want it to feel super futuristic in a sense. I thought it was more interesting pulling from these different eras.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_195486\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-195486\" style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption alignfull -width\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignfull-width size-full wp-image-195486\" src=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/ARC-101-03265_R.jpg\" alt=\"LOKI\" width=\"1024\" height=\"533\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-195486\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">(L-R): (Mobius) Owen Wilson and Loki (Tom\u00a0Hiddleston) in Marvel Studios&#8217; LOKI exclusively on Disney+. Photo by Chuck Zlotnick. \u00a9Marvel Studios 2021. All Rights Reserved.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h5>The two previous series got tonnes of love from the fans; do you feel the pressure of Marvel\u2019s previous achievement?<\/h5>\n<p>KH: \u201cI guess there\u2019s pressure across the whole production. There\u2019s pressure when you set out to tell a very ambitious story because Loki is so beloved, there\u2019s pressure when you\u2019re filming because you\u2019re always up against the clock. And I suppose there\u2019s pressure today in the sense that you pour everything you can into a story, and you try to tell the best story that you can and I\u2019m proud of everything that we\u2019ve done. I think that it\u2019s not really mine anymore now, it\u2019s the audiences.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.disneyplus.com\/home\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Loki is now streaming on Disney+<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"credit-style\">Tile credit: Mike Marsland \/ Mike Marsland \/ WireImage<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1627,"featured_media":27080,"template":"","format":"standard","categories":[23,16],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v18.5 (Yoast SEO v20.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Kate Herron And Michael Waldron On Writing LOKI - Grazia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In conversation with director Kate Herron and head writer Michael Waldron, GRAZIA explores the psyche of Marvel&#039;s most complicated character, Loki.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/loki-kate-herron-michael-waldron-interview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"LOKI: The Art To Developing A Character That&#039;s Neither A Villain Or Hero\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In conversation with director Kate Herron and head writer Michael Waldron, GRAZIA explores the psyche of Marvel&#039;s most complicated character, Loki.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/loki-kate-herron-michael-waldron-interview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Grazia USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-06-17T11:24:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-1141065062-Cropped.jpg?fit=3530%2C1986\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"3530\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1986\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/loki-kate-herron-michael-waldron-interview\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/loki-kate-herron-michael-waldron-interview\/\",\"name\":\"Kate Herron And Michael Waldron On Writing LOKI - 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