Sophia Di Martino on Sylvie’s ‘Great Dynamic’ With Loki & Exploring Her Character
Q&A
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Loki Season 1, Episode 3, “Lamentis.”]
Loki‘s latest addition is making a splash upon her entrance into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Sophia Di Martino will continue to make an impression on viewers as the TVA’s most-wanted Loki variant, Sylvie.
TV Insider caught up with the actress, who is revealing more about her character including what inspiration from the comics has been used to shape Sylvie. Plus, she addresses that all-important train scene during which that bisexuality revelation came to light onscreen (finally). Learn about her “great dynamic” with costar Tom Hiddleston, and much more, below.
So, we’ve met your character Sylvie, but she’s also another variant of Loki. Is she a mixture of Lady Loki and Sylvie (a.k.a. Enchantress) from the Marvel comics?
Sophia Di Martino: You’ve absolutely nailed it. You know, the writers and producers have taken a lot of inspiration from the comics and Sylvie is a variant of Loki, but she’s a character in her own life. She’s sort of given herself that name and reinvented herself as Sylvie and that’s who she is now. So although there is a lot of inspiration from the comics, this is a new story and backstory for Sylvie.
We know Sylvie is on a mission to infiltrate the TVA and it has been years in the making. Is it safe to say we’ll dive deeper into her history?
Yeah, I think you’ll learn a little bit more about why she’s so angry with the TVA and why the plan has been years in the making. I’m excited to see people’s reactions and hear what [they] think when they watch a little bit more.
(Credit: ©Marvel Studios 2021. All Rights Reserved)
The dynamic between you and Tom Hiddleston onscreen is fantastic. What was it like getting to prepare for your scenes together and how did it help you with your own role?
It was fantastic, an amazing opportunity. And Tom knows so much about Loki; obviously he’s been playing him for 10 years and he knows the character inside and out. So it was really helpful to be able to ask him anything, so I could figure out what would wind him up which was important for the dynamic between Loki and Sylvie. It was quite fun playing that. It’s fun trying to try to make someone mad and the vice versa. I’m sure it was for him as well. Yeah, it’s a great dynamic to play.
Considering they get to know one another over the course of Episode 3, does Sylvie see Loki as an ally by the end or is he still an obstacle getting in the way of her mission?
That’s a good question. By the end of Episode 3, the arc has blown up and they’re still stuck on Lamentis-1. So I think at that point she’s still pretty pissed off with him. The Tempad’s broken and that’s his fault. I think she’s still annoyed with him, but there’s definitely a mutual respect sort of brewing at that point as well.
(Credit: ©Marvel Studios 2021. All Rights Reserved)
This episode involved a lot of physical activity, from running around Lamentis to some pretty kick-ass fight sequences. What was it like preparing for those?
We started training and stunt prep in January 2020 when we first arrived in Atlanta. And I don’t think we shot that particular scene where we’re running a lot until September or October of that year. So we obviously had a big hiatus because of the pandemic. But during that time we carried on training. So we had a lot of time to get fit because I couldn’t have run that much in January. So I was pleased that the running was later on. Tom is an amazing runner. He’s just like a gazelle. He just runs and just keeps running. I’m not so good at running. I used to hate it actually, and now I think I’ve warmed to the idea.
Another defining moment from the episode had to be the train discussion between Loki and Sylvie. How did you prepare for the pivotal moment, particularly handling their bisexuality revelation?
I think we knew when we were filming it that it was a really important scene and that people have been waiting for it for a long time. And that representation is so important. Personally, I didn’t want to put too much on that whilst playing the scene because I didn’t want to mess it all up and try too hard. And to be honest, I didn’t realize how massive it would be and how many people would be engaging with it. But it’s so wonderful how much people are loving that scene and how important it is to so many people. So I feel really grateful to be a part of them and very proud.
(Credit: ©Marvel Studios 2021. All Rights Reserved)
And Sylvie is a new character in the MCU. What was the collaboration process like with director Kate Herron and showrunner Michael Waldron when it came to shape her?
Kate was really clear that she wanted me to play with the character and make it my own. So it was collaborative in the way that on set, I could improvise a bit, and they’d always be so open to that. I think I probably swore a little bit too much, which was something that they had to tell me not to do a couple of times. They’d be like, “Can we do like a clean version? This is a Disney show.” But that was all part of finding the character and her voice, which is a little bit too sweary at times.
Loki, Streaming now, New Episodes, Fridays, Disney+
