Tom Hiddleston Says Playing President Loki Was Surreal

Tom Hiddleston clearly had a ball getting to add so many new shades to his famed portrayal of Asgard’s God of Mischief in Disney Plus series Loki, with the five episodes so far digging much deeper into what makes him tick than any of his previous appearances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, where he’s generally been a hugely charismatic and charming, but ultimately completely untrustworthy presence.

This week’s installment featured a cavalcade of Lokis, ranging Richard E. Grant in a fantastic outfit to the reptilian version, with Alligator Loki becoming an instant fan favorite, even if it may not even be a real variant at all. For the most part, though, the variants have been played by other actors, but President Loki finally made his long-awaited debut, having been all over the show’s marketing campaign.

Admittedly, more than a few fans were left disappointed by the brief amount of screentime afforded to this particular variant, even if it generated some big laughs when he was swiftly double, triple and quadruple crossed, before losing a hand to his alligator contemporary. In a new interview, Hiddleston admitted that he found the entire experience of getting presidential to be a little surreal.

“That was quite surreal. President Loki is almost the worst of the bad bunch. It certainly felt this way; he’s the least vulnerable, the most autocratic and terrifyingly ambitious character who seems to have no empathy or care for anyone else. Doing them both in the same scene was slightly mad, but in an enjoyable way. And fun, too, because it was about leaning into Loki as a pure villain, or his capacity to be a pure villain.”

Plenty of actors have ended up performing opposite themselves when pulling double duty onscreen, but it would be safe to say that not many of them have to pretend they’ve just lost an appendage to an alligator, which is an MCU Easter Egg in itself. For years, Kevin Feige has been paying tribute to The Empire Strikes Back by having various characters throughout the shared universe lose either an arm or a hand, with President Loki the latest addition to the list.