A smart artist will usually let people talk about their work without interjecting–you don’t get anywhere by shutting down conversation. Sometimes you have to jump in, though, and for Loki director Kate Herron, for Loki director Kate Herron, that point came after that kiss in the show’s final episode, she revealed in an interview with Polygon. Spoilers follow for the final episode of Marvel’s Loki.
“My interpretation of it is that they’re both Lokis, but they aren’t the same person,” Herron explained. “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.”
“[The show is] looking at the self and asking ‘what makes us?'” Herron continued. “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 said that the process of directing the kiss between the two actors was complicated because the shot had to convey a lot in a very short time.
“Emotionally, from Sylvie’s perspective, I think it’s a goodbye,” Herron said. “But it’s still a build-up of all these feelings. They’ve both grown through each other over the last few episodes. It was important to me that it didn’t feel like a trick, like she was deceiving him. She is obviously doing that, on the one hand, but I don’t feel the kiss is any less genuine. I think she’s in a bad place, but her feelings are true.”
The interview touches on a variety of topics, such as what COVID-19 complications forced the cast and crew to leave on the table (potentially for Loki Season 2), how Sylvie’s backstory reminds Herron of Jumanji, and how Tom Hiddleston and, eventually, other actors on set, psyched themselves up for scenes by running around set.
Loki Season 2 is a ways out. If you want more of the trickster god, don’t miss The Simpsons’ The Good, The Bart, and the Loki short. For more Marvel, look ahead to What If…?, releasing on August 11, and a Hawkeye show starring Jeremy Renner and Hailee Steinfeld, later this year.
