“A degree of charlatanism and pathos at the end”: Loki Season 2 Director Reveals Jonathan Majors’ Sheer Genius as Victor Timely
Loki was introduced into the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the arch-nemesis of his foster brother Thor in the 2011 superhero movie Thor. Following his death in Avengers: Infinity War, the character reappeared in Avengers: Endgame as a variant of himself from an alternate timeline. Marvel Studios released the six-part first season of the series Loki in June 2021 on Disney+.
The series sees Tom Hiddleston reprising his role as the Asgardian God of Mischief Loki Laufeyson from the MCU film series. In October 2023, the second season of the show debuted on Disney+. So far, three episodes of the new season have been released. The director of the third episode Kasra Farahani revealed how Jonathan Majors’ character of Victor Timely came to be as it is in the show.
Jonathan Majors Made Major Contributions To Victor Timely in Loki Season 2
Jonathan Majors reprised his role as two different variants of Kang the Conqueror, namely He Who Remains and Victor Timely. While He Who Remains is a 31st-century scientist who created the Time Variance Authority(TVA) to avoid the formation of a new multiverse and to keep his evil variants from returning, Victor Timely is an industrialist cum inventor in 1893 with characteristics that are quite contrasting to the other variants of Kang the Conqueror.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, the director of the third episode Kasra Farahani revealed that Victor Timely is based on the 19th-century Black inventor Granville Woods. He also declared that the character was mostly built by Majors, saying:
“So he [Granville Woods] was an important figure that went into Timely as well, but Jonathan built the mannerisms, the physicality, the quirkiness, and the specific mix of how he represented intellectual brilliance with social awkwardness, a degree of charlatanism and pathos at the end.”
Read More: 3 Marvel Actors Who Can Break Tom Hiddleston’s New Record With Loki Season 2
Farahani said that Jonathan Majors had done a lot of research and work about Victor Timely on his own. So, the character of Victor Timely that the audience sees in the show is mostly a culmination of Majors’s hard work and the director’s trust in him.
Loki Season 2 Used More Immersive Sets Than Marvel Studios Usually Does
Production designer Kasra Farahani has previously worked as a concept artist and art director on several MCU projects such as Thor, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and Black Panther. He is the reason Loki is now known for its daring and immersive sets.
Read More: Loki Season 2 Cast and Salary: How Much Money is Tom Hiddleston Earning For His Hit MCU Show?
During the interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Farahani revealed the kind of sets the creative team was aiming to build, saying:
“Specifically, we were building more intact, fully 360 sets, including ceilings with integrated lighting, and that was just something that the studio was unsure about because they hadn’t done a lot of that. And so it took a lot of convincing.”
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Loki executive producer Kevin R. Wright and season one’s line producer Trish Stanard helped Farahani convince Marvel Studios to build more immersive sets. Farahani has expressed his hopes that moving forward, Marvel will be using this approach on its other projects too. As of now, the audience can enjoy the third season of the show now streaming on Disney+.
