Marvel’s Loki Has Reportedly Cast Its Female Lead From Another Streaming Series

marvel thor ragnarok loki tom hiddleston

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Disney+ is delivering a whole new showcase for Marvel's god of mischief in an upcoming original series, and now Loki (which revealed the first official footage of Tom Hiddleston back as the character) may have cast its female lead. The actress is a familiar face to those who recently watched a series on another streaming service, as well as a number of other projects on the small and large screen alike. Gugu Mbatha-Raw of Apple TV+'s The Morning Show and A Wrinkle in Time has reportedly joined Tom Hiddleston for Loki.

Unsurprisingly, considering Loki is a Marvel project and isn't even one of the Disney+ MCU originals that recently received a premiere window, not a whole lot of details are available beyond the reported casting. Gugu Mbatha-Raw's character is said by Deadline to be a prominent character and quite possibly the female lead of the series, which has only confirmed two male actors as part of the cast so far.

Neither Disney nor Marvel has confirmed Gugu Mbatha-Raw's casting for Loki. Until that happens, MCU fans may not have much to go on about how she could be incorporated into the story of Loki. The good news is that Gugu Mbatha-Raw has plenty of acting experience to surely make Loki even better. She even has streaming experience thanks to her series regular gig on The Morning Show.

the morning show gugu mbatha-raw

If nothing else, I imagine it's safe to say Gugu Mbatha-Raw's work on Loki would be pretty different from what she did for The Morning Show on Apple TV+! Loki has appeared in projects with formidable and fan-favorite female characters over the years, with Thor: Ragnarok's Valkrie (played by Tessa Thompson) as an obvious standout. Would Mbatha-Raw's character be an ally or foe to the god of mischief?

Only time will tell, but you can check out Tom Hiddleston's Loki in Thor: Ragnarok and other MCU projects with this link to a free 7-day trial of Disney+. Loki will be set after the events of Avengers: Endgame, and may tie into Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. What would a Disney+ MCU series be without ties to the larger MCU, after all?

I'm not sure how WandaVision will tie into the ongoing MCU, but it's not hard to imagine Marvel using an incredibly popular character like Loki to hype the next Doctor Strange movie. And hey, WandaVision should be fun to speculate about during the wait for the premiere! WandaVision (and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) will both debut on Disney+ before the end of 2020, along with the second season of the adorable little alien who took the internet by storm.

Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more MCU news, and join me in crossing my fingers that Disney releases a premiere date for Loki sooner rather than later. If you're in the market for some TV in the coming weeks, swing by our 2020 winter and spring premiere schedule.

Laura Hurley
Senior Content Producer

Laura turned a lifelong love of television into a valid reason to write and think about TV on a daily basis. She's not a doctor, lawyer, or detective, but watches a lot of them in primetime. CinemaBlend's resident expert and interviewer for One Chicago, the galaxy far, far away, and a variety of other primetime television. Will not time travel and can cite multiple TV shows to explain why. She does, however, want to believe that she can sneak references to The X-Files into daily conversation (and author bios).