‘Loki’ Star Sophia Di Martino on Sylvie’s Multiversal Consequences & Season 2 Hopes
Q&A
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Loki Season 1, Episode 6, “For All Time. Always.”]
Are you still recovering from the Loki Season 1 finale? The episode “For All Time. Always,” definitely left its titular God of Mischief (Tom Hiddleston) an emotional mess over his rollercoaster journey with the TVA and fellow variant, Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino).
Already renewed for a second season, the Disney+ Marvel series offered plenty of revealing pay-offs and raised some lingering questions. Among the reveals was Jonathan Majors‘ introduction as He Who Remains, the man behind the TVA and Sylvie’s number one target. Meanwhile, the chemistry between Loki and Sylvie also came to a head in the form of an intense battle. Her main aim? To take out He Who Remains after a long journey to reach the end of time but not without a complicated kiss to conclude her time with Loki before she sends him back to the TVA via TemPad.
Following Sylvie’s big moves, we caught up with star Sophia Di Martino who is opening up about freeing the multiverse, working with Majors, and the state of Loki and Sylvie’s blossoming bond.
Sylvie reached her goal of taking down the force behind the TVA, but how is she feeling knowing what it cost her to get there?
Sophia Di Martino: She’s finally achieved her goal. She’s completed her mission. She’s killed the person behind the TVA, who she blamed for taking away her life. And I think in those moments after she’s killed him, she is waiting to feel relief, she’s waiting to feel some kind of release, she’s waiting to feel better, and it just doesn’t come. She just feels sort of empty and then starts to question everything.
Before she reaches her goal, Sylvie is reluctant to enter the Citadel at the end of time. Why do you think that is?
Usually, Sylvie would just kick down the door just to get to wherever she needs to be next, and in that moment, this is the last door that she ever has to kick down to get to the final confrontation. So it’s scary because she doesn’t know what to expect, and it’s the end of a really long journey. The trepidation probably has something to do with that, and that maybe there’s a seed of doubt in her head about what she’ll do afterward.
(Credit: Disney+/Marvel Studios)
Sylvie and Loki meet He Who Remains in the Citadel and the illusion of their free will is shattered by the encounter. Do you think that motivates her even more in her desire to kill?
For me in that final episode, she is arguing her case. Her killing him is her saying, “I don’t believe you. I have got free will. And even if you tell me I can’t do this, because this is going to happen, I’m going to do it anyway just to see.” She has to do it just to see if she was right. And then in those moments, while she’s waiting afterwards, and the timeline’s branching, it’s just like “oh s**t,” [Laughs].
Should she have taken the deal Miss Minutes offered at the beginning of the episode, allowing two Lokis to live in one timeline, or is it better that Sylvie followed through with her plan, even if it meant breaking open the multiverse?
I mean, for Sylvie, that’s the only outcome. She chooses killing He Who Remains over being with Loki, and for her, that’s the more realistic option. She doesn’t believe that two Lokis in the same timeline would be real. It would be a fabrication. So even if the other option isn’t so nice on the surface it’s more real, and that’s why Sylvie has to go in that direction.
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Despite learning some minor details this season, do you hope to delve further into Sylvie’s past and her connection to Ravonna Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw)?
Yeah, I think that would be really fun to see more about where Sylvie’s been and the life that she could have lived. The great thing about the infinite possibilities that are on the table now is that they can go anywhere and explore anything. And I’m just really excited to see which direction it goes. I’m just along for the ride.
Before the multiverse is freed, Sylvie shares a kiss with Loki. Was that entirely genuine or was it just a diversion for her?
I think in that final moment, it’s a little bit of both for Sylvie. I do think she genuinely cares about Loki. I just don’t think he has managed to help her change by the end of it. On Loki’s side, maybe Sylvie has helped him become a better person or he’s changed because of meeting her, but Sylvie hasn’t changed by the end of the series. She’s still on her mission. And only after she kills He Who Remains is when she starts to question everything. I think that the feelings that they developed towards each other are genuine. I have to believe that.
(Credit: Disney+/Marvel Studios)
Yeah, it would be pretty heartless to find out she’s been playing the long con of falling for him only to not care in the end.
Even if that was the original plan that Sylvie had, we discovered quite quickly that that isn’t going to work because she can’t enchant him in the traditional sense. So I think she’s just as surprised as him when they actually start to care about each other.
And Sylvie pushes Loki through a door back to the TVA. Why does she send him there and do you think she knew it was different from the TVA they knew before?
I don’t know if she knew exactly why she was sending him. In my head, she’s of saving him, getting him out of the way so she can do what she needs to do, but also keeping him safe. I don’t know whether she realized that it’s not the TVA as they once knew. Maybe that’s got something to do with the timelines branching at a similar time to him arriving back in the TVA.
(Credit: Disney+/Marvel Studios)
Jonathan Majors was introduced in this episode, did his performance as He Who Remains help you find Sylvie’s motivation in some of the Citadel’s more intense moments?
It was incredible watching him work. And there’s very little acting required in a way because it was so entertaining. Jonathan has a lot to say in that episode, and Tom and I have to listen a lot, but it was just wonderful to watch the show and his eccentric delivery, which is also pretty creepy. But as Sylvie, it’s just very easy to get irritated with someone like that. So for her, it’s just this growing irritation and hatred towards him.
His presence certainly doesn’t help the tension between Sylvie and Loki which culminates in an epic fight. What was it like preparing for that?
You know, we approached it like a breakup scene. I think that’s the best way to explain that. It was a fight scene, but it was their breakup, and it was full of emotion, and all of the stuff that’s been and hasn’t been said. Everything that’s happened for the whole episode is culminating in that last fight. So it was very intense, and the way the stunt team choreographed it was really clever because there are moments where we’re really close, sort of eyeball to eyeball, super intense. It is almost like, are they going to kiss or are they going to fight? And obviously, in the end, they kiss. But yeah, it’s that very fine line between love and hate.
(Credit: Disney+/Marvel Studios)
Moments before she sends Loki through the door to the TVA, Sylvie says, “but I’m not you.” While it isn’t directly about the Loki name, she makes it clear time and again throughout the season that she’s Sylvie. Is there a deeper meaning behind her refusal of the Loki moniker?
I think she’s a variant of Loki, but she’s reinvented herself, and for whatever reason, she’s taken on a new name. People do that for many different reasons. And for Sylvie, I imagine it’s because she’s had a really hard time. She’s had a tough life. She’s decided to change her hair color, change her name, and try to find a new version of herself that serves her better than the one that came before, that feels more like her. And so she’s fiercely protective over her new identity because she’s crafted it herself and it’s hard-won.
Now that the multiverse is in chaos, what do you think Sylvie’s next move will be? Or is that something you can’t even fathom yet?
I have no idea. The wonderful thing about the way Episode 6 ends is that there are infinite possibilities. They could go in any direction. I’m honestly excited to see which they choose, but whatever happens, Sylvie’s definitely got some soul-searching to do and some big questions to ask herself. And yeah, I’m just excited as everyone else to see what happens.
(Credit: Disney+/Marvel Studios)
The show has resonated a lot with fans, what has your experience been like getting to see their reactions and creations?
It’s honestly been one of the biggest pleasures about being in the show. The fans have got so much energy for it. They pour their time and love into some of these artworks and cosplays and supercuts and songs. It’s just really impressive and quite moving to see a lot of it. It surprises me every day, honestly, and I’m just super pleased that people are engaging with it so much and love the character so much. It’s a real joy.
Loki, Season 1, Streaming Now
