‘Loki’ Director Kate Herron Said Loki and Sylvie’s Connection Is ‘Not Necessarily Romantic’
In Loki on Disney+, Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) have a complex connection. Both characters are Loki variants, but the series has hinted the two may have romantic feelings for one another. In an interview with Thrillist, Loki director Kate Herron said Loki and Sylvie’s relationship is “not necessarily romantic.”
[Spoiler Alert: This article contains spoilers for season 1 episode 5 of Loki.]
Loki and Sylvie became close in the third episode of ‘Loki’
Episode 3 of Loki, “Lamentis,” shows Loki and Sylvie trying to escape from Lamentis-1. Throughout the episode, they become closer, and both have a brief conversation about their views on love and their bisexuality.
“Bisha [Ali], the writer, her two touchstone references were Children of Men and Before Sunrise, in the sense you’re seeing these two characters get to know each other, but it’s in this very complicated, apocalyptic world,” Herron told Thrillist after the third episode premiered on Disney+.
She continued, “They’re trying to suss each other out and he’s like, ‘Are you a Loki? What’s your story?’ It’s almost like an intimate thing in the sense that it’s like a character study, right? But the backdrop is an apocalypse because it’s Loki.”
Loki and Sylvie might not have a romantic relationship
In the fourth episode of Loki, “The Nexus Event,” Loki and Sylvie bond even more as they prepare for their imminent deaths on Lamentis-1. As they comfort one another, a Nexus Event occurs, causing a branched timeline. The TVA finds Loki and Sylvie and arrests them.
Loki realizes he cares for Sylvie, though it is unclear if what he feels is platonic or romantic. Before he can tell Sylvie, he is pruned and winds up in the Void. In the next episode, “Journey into Mystery,” Sylvie prunes herself and finds Loki, Mobius (Owen Wilson), and other pruned Loki variants.
At multiple points in “Journey into Mystery,” Loki and Sylvie avoid talking about their feelings for one another, and they walk the line between platonic and romantic love.
In her interview with Thrillist, Herron shared her thoughts on the relationship, saying:
“For me, it was just about it becoming a character study. Not necessarily romantic, but Loki doesn’t have many friends, you know? He builds this friendship with Mobius across the second episode. It was really about crafting out characters that, by the time they get to the city at the end of the show, they’re going to work as a team. And they have to have gone on a journey and maybe they’ll be friends, we don’t know, but at least they are at a point where, ‘OK, I’ve got your back in this moment.'”
The head writer of ‘Loki’ has a different interpretation
While Herron hinted that Loki and Sylvie might only have a platonic or familial love for one another, head writer Michael Waldron told Marvel.com that Loki does “fall in love” with Sylvie.
“That was one of the cruxes of my pitch [for the series], that there was going to be a love story,” he told Marvel.com. “We went back and forth for a little bit about, like do we really want to have this guy fall in love with another version of himself? Is that too crazy?”
Waldron continued, “But in a series that, to me, is ultimately about self-love, self-reflection, and forgiving yourself, it just felt right that that would be Loki’s first real love story.”
Episode 6 of Loki will premiere on Disney+ on July 14.
