“I don’t see them as being like brother and sister.”
Marvel’s Loki director Kate Herron has weighed in on fan debates about whether or not the romance between Tom Hiddleston’s character and Loki variant Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) is a kind of incest.
Speaking to Polygon, Herron said Loki falling for an alternate version of himself was a kind of “self love” but stressed that she doesn’t “see them as being like brother and sister”.
“My interpretation of it is that they’re both Lokis, but they aren’t the same person,” she said. “I don’t see them as being like brother and sister. They have completely different backgrounds […] and I think that’s really important to her character. They sort of have the same role in terms of the universe and destiny, but they won’t make the same decisions.”
She continued, “[The show is] looking at the self and asking ‘What makes us us?’ I mean, look at all the Lokis across the show, they’re all completely different. I think there’s something beautiful about his romantic relationship with Sylvie, but they’re not interchangeable.”
Herron’s work on the spin-off Marvel series has been widely praised by critics and fans alike but she recently announced that she won’t be returning to direct Loki season two.
Speaking to Deadline, Herron broke the news that she would be bidding farewell to the God of Mischief, just two days after the second season was officially confirmed via the Loki post-credits scene.
“I’m not returning,” she said. “I always planned to be just on for this, and to be honest, season two wasn’t in the — that’s something that just came out, and I’m so excited.
“I’m really happy to watch it as a fan next season, but I just think I’m proud of what we did here and I’ve given it my all. I’m working on some other stuff yet to be announced.”
If you’re keen to find out what happens next after Loki episode six, check out our round-up of the top theories, from how the Loki comics could shape season two to how Gugu Mbatha-Raw’s Ravonna Renslayer could be influential.
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