Loki Season 2 Director Details Jonathan Majors’ Help In Creating Victor Timely: “Huge Amount Of Invention & Specificity”

With yet another Kang variant introduced, director Kasra Farahani details how Jonathan Majors was important in creating Loki season 2’s Victor Timely. After having been teased in the marketing for the show and in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania‘s post-credits scene, episode 3 of the new Marvel Cinematic Universe season finally revealed the new incarnation of Majors’ character, an inventor in the 19th century whom Loki and Mobius turn to for help repairing the Temporal Loom at the Time Variance Authority. The duo also cross paths with Ravonna Renslayer and Miss Minutes, who have their own plans for Timely.

On the heels of his arrival, Screen Rant spoke exclusively with Kasra Farahani to discuss Victor Timely in Loki season 2, episode 3. The director praise Majors’ involvement in helping create the new Kang variant, pointing out the “huge amount of invention and specificity” that the actor brought to the character that benefited differentiating him from his other variants. See what Farahani explained below:

Absolutely. There was a huge amount of invention and specificity that Jonathan brought to building out this role. The exact nature of his quirkiness, the embodiment of someone who is at once so brilliant that they’re operating seven levels above normal people, but then the awkwardness that comes as a result of that in terms of how they interact on a more basic level. And the combination of confidence in his brilliance and his technical knowledge, but sort of stammering and kind of shyness around Renslayer, because of the situation maybe he hasn’t found himself in recently. And then also wanted to acknowledge the fact that this is a Black man in the late 19th century in America who’s trying to be an inventor, who’s trying to be a business person, and that’s going to be a hostile environment. Just the very nature of the fact that he’s giving this presentation in the Hofbrau of the Midway instead of in the Machine Hall of the White City, which is next door, is probably due to that. They probably wouldn’t let him into that one. And so I think some of his need to be quick on his feet and to be a conman comes from being a person surviving in a hostile environment. And on top of that, I think also the conman part of it is also informed of the fact that his ideas are so advanced that they exceed what’s capable with the materials and the technology he’s working with in the late 19th century. So he’s not conning anybody in that these ideas are all valid, but his ability to execute them is limited in the era.

Why Victor Timely Is So Important For Loki Season 2

While season 1 of the MCU show kept his variant more of a mystery, not revealing He Who Remains until the finale, Loki season 2 has changed up the show’s formula by introducing the different version of Kang much earlier in the story. Another major change to the formula is how he factors in to the actual story, with the Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania post-credits teasing Loki’s horror at seeing the variant, only for episode 3 to reveal he and Mobius are actually looking for him in the hopes of helping fix the Temporal Loom at the TVA.

Though He Who Remains may have had noble intentions in creating the TVA in order to prevent another multiversal war waged by his variants, his mysterious nature still resulted in the character proving far more menacing and a form of antagonist to Loki and Sylvie in their desires to enjoy free will. This was further evidenced by the fact that he only offered the pair two options out of their situation, the first being to kill him and release the other Kangs on the multiverse while the other is to replace him in managing the TVA. Given his seemingly infinite wisdom, a more better-natured version of Kang would’ve sought a third option that benefited all three.

With three episodes still remaining in Loki season 2, it remains to be seen whether Timely will prove to be a more compassionate Kang variant or not, though his introduction has already hinted at some darkness hiding with him. As Farahani mentions, the character does display awkward and quirky sensibilities, but his conman actions could ultimately set up another villainous turn for the Kang variant upon his arrival at the TVA and discovering the nature of the agency he somewhat helped to create.

New episodes of Loki season 2 air Thursdays on Disney+.