We’ve known that Loki will have a season 2 on Disney Plus ever since the finale of the first season. Marvel confirmed it all via a sneaky post-credits scene. At that point, we knew the big cliffhangers at the end of season 1 wouldn’t be explored only in other MCU titles. As a reminder, Loki season 1 opened up the multiverse, allowing variants to form alternate timelines that wouldn’t have been allowed before Kang (Jonathan Majors) governed the MCU. We have a long wait before season 2 is released, but the first details are trickling in. One of the show’s stars already confirmed something major about the upcoming season — that’s Gugu Mbatha-Raw, who played Ravonna Renslayer in Loki season 1.
Separately, a new rumor has also appeared and it pertains to Kang. Before you proceed, know that spoilers might follow below.
Ravonna Renslayer will return in Loki season 2
We’ve been expecting Ravonna Renslayer to be one of the antagonists in Loki. And we were partially correct.
She turned out to be a staunch defender of the TVA, a position that’s not entirely surprising. It must be soul-crushing to find out you’ve spent eons pruning timelines in service of a regular person who managed to practically enslave variants from different realities as his personal police force.
But even after that, Renslayer thought there must be a reason why the TVA had to exist. Rather than joining the revolution that Loki (Tom Hiddleston), Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino), and Mobius (Owen Wilson) started, Renslayer took a TemPad and walked through a Timedoor in the finale.
Renslayer told Mobius that she was going to search for free will. That’s the person responsible for the TVA. Put differently, Ravonna will be searching for the version of Kang who set up the TVA. And we do know that at the end of season 1, Loki discovers a different variation of the TVA.
Renslayer’s departure is one of the cliffhangers at the end of Loki season 1. It teases a return for the character, especially considering that she had received a special briefing from He Who Remains, the Kang variant who was killed by Sylvie.
With that in mind, it makes sense to assume that Mbatha-Raw would return in Loki season 2. But we no longer have to speculate on the matter, as the actress confirmed to Good Morning America that she is in season 2. This is huge because her arc could be a major part of the story in the second season.
Mbatha-Raw said she couldn’t reveal anything about the next season, which is understandable. But the way she said it suggests she knows what Renslayer will be up to.
Kang’s love interest
Renslayer is in a relationship with Kang in the comics. That’s why we always expected to see that in the first Loki season. We’ll have to wait for season 2 for that to happen — if it’s even in the cards for these two characters. But there’s already a rumor out that says Kang will have a love interest in Loki season 2. The rumor doesn’t identify said love interest, as you can see below.
However, we’ll remind you that Renslayer received an unexpected briefing in the Loki season 1 finale. We have no idea what’s in the files she received. But it all happened while He Who Remains was still in control of the TVA and the timeline.
What’s also important to note here is that Kang planned all along for Renslayer to find out the truth about the TVA.
It was all part of his master plan to find a worthy successor who could continue to manage the timeline with the help of the TVA. After eons at his post, this Kang variant clearly went crazy and looked for a way out, regardless of the outcome.
But he might not have left everything to chance. Kang gave Loki and Sylvie free will, allowing them to choose what to do next. But he still sent out special instructions to Renslayer.
Was that a backup plan? We have no idea. But it certainly put Renslayer on a trajectory that will probably be explored in Loki season 2. Aside from that, she and a different Kang version might become romantically involved.
One more thing
Loki season 2 starts filming in the UK this summer, so it’ll hit Disney Plus in 2023 at the earliest. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania will hit theaters on July 28th, 2023. That’s another MCU project featuring one of Jonathan Majors’ Kang variants.
It’ll be interesting to see where we’ll see Kang again first, in Loki or Ant-Man 3. And it’ll be equally interesting to see whether Renslayer will appear in other places in the MCU beyond the Loki series.
