Summary
- Assembled: The Making of Loki Season 2 is now available on Disney+
- The director of Loki Season 2 shared that the original ending was very different from the final cut.
- However, the creators understood that this finale was not right and created the tear-jerking, brilliant ending that shocked so many viewers.
Let's be real. From the moment we first saw the Temporal Loom explode in Loki Season 2, we all thought that the God of Mischief would somehow manage to fix it with the help of his TVA friends. After all, Loki has long since become a superhero, and the MCU heroes always win.
However, the ending of the subsequent installment surprised us. It turned out that Loki had been trying to fix the unfixable all along, and this realization was shocking, to say the least. It seemed impossible to save the multiverse, but Loki wouldn't be a superhero if he didn't find a way.
In the tear-jerking moment, the Asgardian blew up the Temporal Loom, sacrificing himself for the survival of the multiverse and the TVA. No, he didn't die. He suffered a far worse fate: to sit on the throne at the end of time, all alone for all eternity, and to hold the endlessly branching multiverse in his hands.
Now, that's a mind-blowing ending, right? Turns out it was not in the original plans of the creators.
Alternative Ending
The latest episode of Marvel's behind-the-scenes docuseries Assembled titled The Making of Loki Season 2 revealed an interesting fact. Director Aaron Moorhead shared that the original Loki Season 2 finale was quite different from the one that aired.
'There was a draft of the script of the very end,' the director said. 'Something wasn't sitting right with both of us about it. And the issue was, this draft didn't have Loki destroying the Loom. He saved the Loom from imploding and then ascended the throne. We all knew something was up.'
That sounds like exactly how we all expected Season 2 to go, doesn't it? Loki fixes the Temporal Loom, which can now hold the multiverse, and takes over He Who Remains' Citadel of the End of Time to protect the Loom and the TVA.
Weaker Twist
However, such an ending doesn't sound right and would cheapen the whole series with the much lower stakes and no development for Loki's arc. Living in the Citadel is not really a sacrifice when you can go in and out at the first convenience to have a piece of pie with a friend.
For an antihero like Loki, it's important to come full circle and go from a self-centered antagonist to a hero who sacrifices everything he has for people he doesn't even know. Fortunately, the creators understood this and gave us the best finale possible.
'The problem was, is that he didn't have the sacrifice and we realized, why doesn't he destroy the Loom and then have to take over the Loom's massive responsibility? He doesn't get anything out of it,' Moorhead said. 'It seems so obvious now, it seems like exactly the right choice. But that was a watershed moment in the development of it, when we realized Loki needs to destroy and become the Loom.'
What can we add? That deserves a standing ovation.
Source: Assembled: The Making of Loki Season 2.