For All Time. Always.
"For All Time. Always." is the sixth episode and season finale of the first season of the American television series Loki, based on Marvel Comics featuring the character Loki. It follows alternate versions of the character as they attempt to discover who created the mysterious Time Variance Authority. The episode is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, sharing continuity with the films of the franchise. It was written by head writer Michael Waldron and Eric Martin, and directed by Kate Herron.
Tom Hiddleston reprises his role as Loki from the film series, while Sophia Di Martino stars as a female version of the character named Sylvie. Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Wunmi Mosaku, Eugene Cordero, Tara Strong, Jonathan Majors, and Owen Wilson also star in the episode. Waldron was hired in February 2019 to serve as head writer of the series, with Herron joining in August. Filming took place at Pinewood Atlanta Studios, with location filming in the Atlanta metropolitan area.
"For All Time. Always." was released on Disney+ on July 14, 2021. The episode was praised for its introduction of He Who Remains, an alternate version of Kang the Conqueror, as well as Jonathan Majors' performance as the character.
Plot
and Sylvie enter the Citadel at the End of Time where they are greeted by Miss Minutes. She relays an offer from her master, "He Who Remains", to return them to the Sacred Timeline while offering him sovereignty and her happiness. However, the duo rejects the offer. At the Time Variance Authority headquarters, Judge Ravonna Renslayer receives information sent by He Who Remains via Miss Minutes. Mobius M. Mobius confronts Renslayer and both accuse each other of betrayal. Renslayer leaves to search for "free will" after overcoming Mobius' attempt at pruning her. In 2018 Fremont, Ohio, Hunter B-15 is pursued by other TVA Minutemen until she reveals a variant of Renslayer, a school vice-principal, to prove that the TVA employees are variants.Meanwhile, He Who Remains greets Loki and Sylvie, who are both surprised that he is "just a man". Using a TemPad to avoid Sylvie's attacks, He Who Remains reveals he can anticipate their actions because he has foreseen the past, present, and future and that he guided them to him. He also reveals that he created the TVA after several variants of himself discovered alternative universes and contacted each other in the 31st century. Several of them tried to conquer other universes, leading to a multiversal war. He Who Remains harnessed the creature Alioth to end it, isolate his timeline, and create the TVA to prevent further branches. As he has grown weary, he offers Loki and Sylvie a choice—kill him, end the singular timeline, and risk another multiversal war sparked by his variants, or succeed him in leading the TVA and managing the timeline.
As the timeline begins to diverge, He Who Remains finds he can no longer anticipate the future and Sylvie tries to kill him. Loki fights her, fearing He Who Remains might be right and pleading that he wants to keep her safe. They kiss, but Sylvie uses the TemPad to send Loki back to the TVA headquarters and kills a surrendering He Who Remains, unleashing a multiverse with timelines that cannot be pruned. Loki tries to warn B-15 and Mobius about He Who Remains' variants, but they do not recognize him. Loki then discovers that a statue of one of the variants has replaced those of the Time-Keepers.
Production
Development
By September 2018, Marvel Studios was developing a limited series starring Tom Hiddleston's Loki from the Marvel Cinematic Universe films. Loki was confirmed to be in development by Disney CEO Bob Iger in November. Kate Herron was hired to direct the series in August 2019. Herron and head writer Michael Waldron executive produce alongside Hiddleston and Marvel Studios' Kevin Feige, Louis D'Esposito, Victoria Alonso, and Stephen Broussard. The sixth episode, titled "For All Time. Always.", was written by Waldron and Eric Martin. The episode's mid-credits scene confirmed the series' renewal for a second season.Writing
Waldron called Miss Minutes "really scary" when she becomes evil in the episode, despite her previous "sing-songy and sort of non-threatening" way of talking. Herron described her as a "devil on the shoulder" for Loki and Sylvie, and originally had planned for Miss Minutes to fight the pair in the Citadel at the End of Time. The production break allowed the creatives to reexamine Miss Minutes' role in the episode, resulting in creating a deeper, "protective" relationship between her and He Who Remains than was initially conceived. Tara Strong wanted "to play her angry after starting at this place of very cute and cautious of how much you know about her, to finally let her emotions really come out", and enjoyed "play her to this next level in this maximum capacity".He Who Remains is revealed to be the "man behind the curtain" of the Time Variance Authority, played by Jonathan Majors, who appears in the film Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania as Kang the Conqueror, a variant of He Who Remains. He Who Remains, who is a separate character in the comics, was altered for the MCU to be a variant of Kang, and was also partially inspired by Immortus. Kang was always intended to be a part of the series, since Waldron believed the character fit in a story that involved time travel and the multiverse. Despite this, the writers considered using a Loki variant in that role instead. Those conversations did not go far enough for Hiddleston to be informed because it was decided that this would make the universe "feel small". Waldron felt it made "so much sense" to introduce Majors in the series, since Kang is "a time-traveling, multiversal adversary" and thought to be "the next big cross-movie villain". In writing the character, Waldron hoped to "really hint at that terrifying evil within", while still portraying his other variants as more evil than he is. Herron called He Who Remains "the one that brings" the series together since he was "the theme of our show", demonstrating that "no one is completely good or completely bad, and people do fall into that gray area". He Who Remains' solitude also resonated with Herron's experience during the COVID-19 lockdown. When Ravonna Renslayer learns that the TVA is a lie and its agents are variants, she decides that she wants to stay in power and "reacts more in anger", instead of questioning her life's purpose as Mobius M. Mobius had done. Gugu Mbatha-Raw said that Renslayer "wants revenge with whoever put this whole facade together", with Waldron adding she wants to find "who pulled the wool over her eyes".
Loki's speech during his and Sylvie's meeting with He Who Remains was worked on and revised by Herron, Martin, Hiddleston, and Di Martino until filming, as Herron had wanted to "get it right". Herron felt the line "I just want you to be okay" was "so key" to his speech, because it had "pain" in it and showed that he had "evolved... moved beyond his pain and anger, and he doesn't want that for her". Sophia Di Martino believed having Sylvie hear from Loki that he wants her to be okay was "such a nice thing" considering how damaged she is, adding, "It sort of breaks her heart a little bit because she just wants herself to be OK as well. For someone else to acknowledge that, and to see her in that way and to just see her, is so powerful." Discussing Sylvie's decision to kill He Who Remains and betray Loki, Di Martino noted that in that moment Sylvie believes killing him "is going to make her feel better", and that feeling, which is fueled by anger built up since her childhood, "is stronger than any feelings she has for Loki". Herron compared Sylvie's situation in the scene to Loki's characterization in Thor, with Sylvie being "driven by revenge, pain, and anger", and with Loki understanding her feelings due to his own experience. Herron felt that although Sylvie's betrayal was "a horrible goodbye, the feelings were real" in their final confrontation. Di Martino added that, despite going through with killing He Who Remains, Sylvie remains unfulfilled without getting "the relief that she's been waiting for her whole life".
The ending of the episode, which sees the Sacred Timeline broken, Loki at a TVA in a different timeline, and a statue of Kang replacing those of the Time Keepers, had different variations, with this one chosen while the production was on its COVID-19 hiatus. Waldron believed that the ending they settled on felt "right" and was able to close "one chapter of the story" while providing "thrilling propulsive energy into whatever happens next". He originally had another ending planned, and felt it was possible a version of that original ending could one day be seen in the MCU. The series' "Art of" book provided some clues to the original ending, which would have seen Loki going "off on to some of his own adventures in a different realm". Once it was known that a second season would happen, elements were added to the ending to make it a cliffhanger. Herron added that it was always known that the season would end with the rebirth of the multiverse. She also felt it was important to show that Loki "still has a fight in his heart" in the scenes in the Time Theater after Sylvie sends him away, even though he has reached his lowest point. Hiddleston added that Loki's confusion in that moment, processing Sylvie's betrayal after he "made a brave choice", was "unprecedented and it shatters him internally". The final line of the episode from Mobius, "Who are you?", mimics the first line from the first episode and was "the question of the whole first season".
Herron added that a mid-credits scene for the episode was never considered as the creatives "always just were thinking just of the story and where we knew we wanted it to end", although the announcement of a second season was included mid-credits as "a fun nod to something that Marvel does so well".