Ke Huy Quan Shares the Joy of Joining the 'Loki' Family

In Marvel Studios' Loki Season 1, the Marvel Cinematic Universe's resident trickster surprised even himself when he found a family amongst the misfits of the Time Variance Authority. Now, in Loki Season 2, that family grows with the addition of Ouroboros, AKA O.B.—and star Ke Huy Quan couldn't be happier about it.

Speaking to Marvel.com, Quan reveals how it felt to join the Loki family, both on the screen and behind the scenes, and shares a few of his favorite memories from the journey so far.

When he arrived on set, Quan felt a little apprehensive about joining such an established cast—but his fears were quickly quelled by his co-stars, especially Tom Hiddleston. "This is Season 2, so they've done this before with the same team. When I first got on, I was a bit intimidated, because I'm a newcomer, and I didn't know what that would be like, because they already have that camaraderie going on," he recalls.

"But when I got on set for the very first day, Tom and Owen [Wilson] and everybody welcomed me with wide open arms, and immediately, I felt loved and cared for, especially from Tom," he shares. "You know, being the leader of the team, being the executive producer, he was constantly very, very cognitive of how I was feeling."

"It was more about making me feel welcome, and at home, and part of the family," he continues. "I had wonderful conversations with the creative team—[Executive Producer] Kevin Wright, [Head Writer] Eric Martin—and it was all about understanding this character and how best we can bring him to life. It wasn't that difficult, because it was so well-written, and I loved him so much."

"Of course, I know what it means to the fans, because I've been a Marvel fan for the longest time," he adds. "In fact, when I became an actor again, joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe was at the very top of my wish list. I know how passionate the fans are. It was important for me to make sure that they love O.B."

As a Marvel fan himself, Quan experienced a few "geek out" moments throughout his time on set, starting with the day he landed the job. "One was when I got the call from [Marvel Studios President] Kevin Feige, asking me to join the MCU," he says. "Now, you have to understand, I met Kevin 23 years ago on the set of X-Men. He was an associate producer at that time, and I was just an assistant action choreographer. I loved him then. He was so smart and so knowledgeable in this universe. I didn't know much about the Marvel Universe."

"But meeting him then, and never thinking that I would ever get to work with him, as Marvel movies get bigger and bigger, and then secretly, I'm thinking, I want to [join]. When you go and watch a Marvel movie and you see all those Super Heroes up on the screen, you can't help yourself but imagine and fantasize about being alongside with them," he points out.

"When I got that call, that was incredible. In fact, I got even emotional. I was driving at that time when I got the call. I picked it up, and I hear, 'Hi, Ke. This is Kevin Feige.' He told me how much he loved Everything Everywhere All at Once and my performance, and when he asked me, 'Ke, I want you to join the family,' I had to say, 'Kevin, can you give me two seconds?' Because I couldn't see the road, my eyes started tearing up," he recounts. "I pulled over, parked the car, and I said, 'Kevin, can you please say that again? Can you please ask me that again?' That was a moment that I'll always remember."

Likewise, Quan has nothing but praise for his co-stars. "I met [Tom] and Owen for the first time and they asked me to join in the rehearsal. I sat there, and I watch him go at it with Mobius. They're working out a scene. They're making changes to the scene, down to what words to use, what adjectives to use," he shares. "It was incredible for me to witness, to see how much he cares about this character. Now, Tom's been playing this character for 12 years. He approaches it as if he's playing it for the very first time. To see his love for this character—that is really inspiring."

"Also, it was a masterclass for me," he continues. "It's a masterclass to learn how to be a great actor, to be a great leader, and also to be a great human being. Tom is so nice and caring. Throughout the entire shoot, I would see him come up to me, come up to many other member of the crew, saying, 'Are you okay? Are you okay? Anything I can do for you? Are you happy? If you have any questions, come to me, let me know.' He's our leader. He's Loki. So that was really heartwarming to know. Honestly, I loved that shoot so much. I didn't want it to end."

"I love interacting with everybody—not only on screen, but especially behind the scenes. We were a family. We were always laughing and joking around right up until the camera rolls. And you know, I love Tom. Owen makes me laugh all the time," he says.

To that point, Quan shares one of his favorite moments with Wilson from filming Season 2. "I remember this one instance where they grouped all the sets. Because it's six episodes, for convenience's sake, we would shoot [on one particular group of sets] in one week. They would schedule that with different directors, and then we would shoot different episodes in the same day," he recalls. "As you know, if you watch all six episodes, we spend a lot of time staring out the window. This was, maybe, day three or day four, and we've done many takes over different episodes, just looking out the window." 

"Then the directors would give, like, 'Okay, now look really tense. And we hear this narration, and we're just staring out the window. We do this over and over and over and over again. For the third or fourth day, right before they roll camera, Owen Wilson comes up to me. Very quietly, he says, 'Ke, have you noticed we've been doing a lot of staring lately?' And he was absolutely right! We have done nothing but staring out the window for three, four days. It was just stuff like that," he points out. "We would make each other laugh. It was just like a big, happy family."

For all time, always! Loki Season 2 is now streaming exclusively on Disney+.