Marvel Ditches Tom Hiddleston for 'Loki' Season 2 Promotion

As the premiere date of Marvel’s highly-anticipated Loki Season 2 inches closer, the show’s main cast, including star Tom Hiddleston, has been glaringly absent from any promotion—and for good reason.

Related: Upcoming ‘Loki’ Series Set for Disappointing Premiere

What Is ‘Loki’ Season 2 About? Cast, Story Details, and Release Date

It’s been a long two years since the fan-favorite Asgardian trickster last graced our screens in Season 1 of Loki, which still holds the crown for Marvel’s most-watched show on Disney+. Now, the studio is gearing up for the release of its sophomore season, which promises even more time-traveling shenanigans.

Hiddleston will reprise his role as Loki, perhaps the most beloved anti-hero in MCU history. Joining him are returning cast members Owen Wilson, who plays TVA Agent Mobius M. Mobius, Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Ravonna Renslayer, Tara Strong as Miss Minutes, and Sophia Di Martino as Loki’s female alter-ego, Sylvie, among others.

Related: Kevin Feige Abandons Essential Moment for the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Picking up immediately after the action-packed Season 1 finale, Loki‘s second season will see the God of Mischief scrambling to pick up the pieces after he’s dropped into a very different TVA than the one he remembers—a TVA where no one, not even Mobius, knows who he is.

With He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors) dead and the Sacred Timeline shattered, Loki will have to journey through time to stop violent Kang variants from wreaking havoc across the Multiverse, all while searching for Sylvie. A mid-credits scene for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023) teased this overarching storyline and introduced a particularly dangerous variant into the mix: Victor Timely.

The first full-length trailer for Loki Season 2 gave fans even more of an idea of what to expect, introducing Oscar-winner Ke Huy Quan’s tech wizard, OB, who seems to be the man in charge of the “repairs & advancement” at the TVA. Eugene Cordero’s Casey will also play a more substantial role in the series’ sophomore season and is, oddly enough, the only person who remembers Loki.

Check out the official trailer for Marvel Studios’ Loki Season 2 below:

‘Loki’ Season 2 Faces Major Setbacks

Of course, plenty of things have worked against Loki Season’s favor from the get-go. For one, the new batch of episodes was delayed by several months, with Marvel President Kevin Feige initially claiming it would be released in summer 2023. There’s also the studio’s ongoing Jonathan Majors problem, with the Kang actor being essentially blacklisted from Hollywood following his March arrest on harassment and assault charges.

But perhaps most damning is the current WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, which are bringing all major productions to a complete standstill. The Writers Guild—who have been withholding labor since May—are fighting for fair pay, increased streaming residuals, and pension and health plans, among other things.

Meanwhile, actors, who joined the WGA on the picket line in July, are striking for general wage increases, protections against the use of actor images through artificial intelligence (AI), and retirement benefits, to name just a few of their demands.

Stars Glaringly Absent from ‘Loki’ Season 2 Promotion

So, what does this mean for Loki? Well, SAG-AFTRA members have been barred from promoting struck work per union regulations, meaning its biggest starts can’t attend red carpet premieres, give press interviews, or do any publicity work until a new agreement is reached with the studios.

Disney has been hit particularly hard by striking actors, with the all-star cast of their latest flick, Haunted Mansion (2023), being replaced by theme park characters during the premiere event at Disneyland Resort’s Hyperion Theater back in July.

It seems like Marvel is taking a similar approach with Loki Season 2, and sent Kevin Wright, an executive producer on Loki, to engage with the press and promote the series’ second season at the recent Destination D23 presentation in Orlando, Florida.

Kevin Wright, Executive Producer of @MarvelStudios’ #Loki takes to the stage to give #DestinationD23 guests a sneak peek of Loki Season 2—plus, “A Special Look at #TheMarvels” pic.twitter.com/X5w5WzBNJ7

— Disney D23 (@DisneyD23) September 10, 2023

Wright had plenty of interesting things to say about the new Loki episodes, specifically, in regards to Majors’ Kang. Still, it’s alarming to see a show as buzzy as Loki not getting the full celebrity press junket treatment, begging the question: when will Hollywood’s writers and actors be back to work?

Unsatisfying as it is, no one really knows. The WGA will keep striking until it makes what it deems is a fair deal with the AMPTP, which could take months. Only after this new agreement is reached will the studios open negotiations with SAG-AFTRA.

Ultimately, fans shouldn’t fret, because Loki Season 2 is still on the way. These are just unfortunate, and albeit, necessary conditions for the show to premiere in, and Hiddleston, Wilson, and the remaining cast members are simply doing their part to comply with the movement.

Only time will tell if the sophomore season of Loki can live up to its predecessor amid all the chaos.

Loki Season 2 will begin streaming exclusively on Disney+ on October 6, 2023.

Are you looking forward to seeing Loki Laufeyson back in action? Let us know in the comments below.