Casting What-Ifs: Actors Who Almost Played Loki

Marena's MixTape

May 15

Casting the right performer in a role can make or break a movie. This is known. But have you ever been watching one of your favorite movies and wondered how it might have turned out if ofther actors had been cast in the roles?

Tom Hiddleston’s portrayal of Loki has become a fan favorite since he made his MCU debut in 2011’s Thor. Although this isn't exactly a "little known" fact, Hiddleston originally auditioned for the role of the God of Thunder himself., putting on twenty pounds of muscle for his screen test. In the bonus features for Thor: The Dark World on Blu-ray Hiddleston’s audition was discussed. “He trained, he came in, he was ripped…he did a tremendous job,” the commentator said. “But he wasn’t Thor. From the moment he came in and read though, he was Loki.”

“We always were putting our chips on Loki,” said Marvel President Kevin Feige in the same commentary which you can watch here. “We believed in him as a character. Had Tom not brought him to life in a way that the audience responded to, it probably wouldn’t have gone anywhere.”

I couldn’t agree more. It’s hard to imagine anyone else in the role now, and Hiddleston’s brilliant take on the character is what has made The God of Mischief such a popular character in the MCU even though he’s technically a villain. But there were other actors initially considered and brought in to audition for the role, and a few might surprise you.

Jim Carrey

Jim Carrey was reportedly Marvel Studios top pick to play Loki. Here’s a little piece of trivia: if you remember the veteran comedic actor’s performance in The Mask, Carrey wore a mask in that film belonging to Loki. Of COURSE he did. Before the studio could even reach out to Carrey, Hiddleston had already aced his screen test, and the rest is history.

Josh Hartnett

In 2001 Josh Harnett was the next “big thing” coming off starring roles in Pearl Harbor and Black Hawk Down. If you were of a certain age at the time you’ll probably remember he was on magazine covers everywhere, and directors and studios pursued him for big blockbusters and comic book franchises. He was on Christopher Nolan’s short list to play Batman, and turned down the role of Superman in Bryan Singer’s 2006 reboot. Instead, the actor decided to focus on smaller, independent movies, before taking a break from acting all together for awhile, only resurfacing here and there for projects like Showtime’s Penny Dreadful. So I was a little surprised to learn he had several meetings with director Kenneth Branagh for the role of Loki during the casting process, but as a Josh Harnett fan I’m glad to see the actor is slowly taking on more projects again.

Charlie Cox

Charlie Cox was also brought in to audition for Loki. The English actor eventually got his chance to join the MCU when he was cast as Matt Murdock in the Netflix series, Daredevil. He also worked with Hiddleston last year in the revival of the Harold Pinter play, Betrayal. Interestingly enough, Cox was also considered at one point to play Superman. Director Matthew Vaughn was one of the directors Warner Brothers was considering for another Superman movie back in 2008. Vaughn recently reveled he and frequent collaborator, Mark Millar both thought Cox would be a solid choice to play the Man of Steel. Zack Snyder ended up getting tapped to direct Man of Steel and placed Henry Cavill in the suit.

Loki may have already died at the beginning of Avengers: Infinity War, but Tom Hiddleston will be back to play the God of Mischief again — no doubt, causing more trouble with his own show called Loki coming to Disney+.