Tom Hiddleston made his debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the antagonist Loki in the 2011 movieThor, but as revealed in some previously-unseen audition footage, the actor first tried out for the titular superhero. On Monday night, Hiddleston appeared onThe Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallonfor an interview, and the conversation quickly turned to Loki and his place in the MCU. During their talk, Fallon revealed he had obtained some footage of Hiddleston auditioning as Thor, and better yet, we get to see Hiddleston’s actual reaction to the video. You can see it for yourself below.
AsTom Hiddlestonalso explains in the interview, Thor was the only character in the movie he tried out for. This is mostly because he fit the bill of an actor who was over 6'4" with blonde hair. Clearly, while those in charge ultimately went with Chris Hemsworth for the movie’s leading role, they must have seen the potential in Hiddleston by casting him in another prominent role without him specifically auditioning for it. In hindsight, casting Hiddleston as Loki turned out to be a brilliant decision, as it’s practically impossible to envision another character playing the role as well as Hiddleston has done with the part in the MCU.
Similar to how we can’t picture anyone else butChris Hemsworth playing Thor, it’s just as difficult to imagine another actor besides Hiddleston as Loki. After scoring the part of Loki inThor, Hiddleston has since become a mainstay in the MCU. He reprised the role for bothThorsequelsThe Dark WorldandRagnarok, also appearing as Loki in the originalAvengersmovie and its sequelAvengers: Infinity War. Though Thanos technically killed the character off in the latter, the use of time travel scenes allowed him to once again appear in this year’s sequelAvengers: Endgame. Hiddleston is also set to lend his voice to the character for the upcoming Disney+ animated seriesWhat If…?.
Additionally, Hiddleston will also be leading his ownLoki spinoff series on Disney+as well. The series will follow the Loki revealed in an alternate timeline as shown inAvengers: Endgame, picking up after he escapes with the Tesseract. Not much else is known about the series, such as which other MCU characters will appear and other major plot points, and Hiddleston kept his lips sealed about the show during hisTonight Showinterview. The actor has revealed that shooting is expected to begin early next year, but a premiere date for theLokiseries on Disney+ has not yet been revealed.
It’s always fun to look back to see how differently major movies could have been had the casting process gone differently. Perhaps Hiddleston wasn’t a perfect fit for Thor, but for his part, he fully accepts this by praising the ultimate decision to go with Hemsworth for the part. “I think we can all agree that they cast the right actor,” Hiddleston told Fallon immediately after watching hisThoraudition footage. This news comes to us from The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
