Unlike its Disney+ exclusive predecessors WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, the MCU’s time-traveling adventure series Loki went out of its way to set up a second season.
Unfortunately, Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige has hinted that the second season might not even begin filming before 2023, so fans could have a long wait before they see season 1’s Kang bombshell paid off. In the meantime, there are a bunch of similarly trippy and mind-bending sci-fi shows for Marvel fans to check out.
Rick And Morty
The adult-oriented animated hit that put Adult Swim on the map, Rick and Morty follows the co-dependent multiversal adventures of a hard-drinking inventor and his weak-willed grandson.
There are a number of similarities between Loki and Rick and Morty – time cops, interdimensional portals, multiple versions of the same character bickering with each other, etc. – and Loki’s head writer Michael Waldron cut his teeth working on Rick and Morty.
The X-Files
Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny made a pairing for the ages in the roles of Agents Scully and Mulder in The X-Files. In each episode, Scully and Mulder investigate paranormal activity like UFO sightings and werewolf attacks across the country.
Both Loki and The X-Files are sci-fi procedurals with mismatched detectives. Loki follows a veteran TVA agent who accepts his small place in the universe and a god who believes his “glorious purpose” is to rule the world. The X-Files follows an FBI agent determined to find the aliens who abducted his sister and a rookie who’s skeptical about the supernatural.
The Twilight Zone
The dystopian storytelling of Loki is reminiscent of Rod Serling’s hugely influential sci-fi anthology series The Twilight Zone. With classic episodes like “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street,” Serling used the prism of science fiction to tackle such prevalent social issues as McCarthyism.
After the season finale of Loki aired its shocking cliffhanger ending, writer/producer Eric Martin tweeted, “This ending comes straight from those first Twilight Zones.”
Red Dwarf
The quintessential blend of sci-fi and comedy, Red Dwarf stars Craig Charles as a lowly technician who awakens from suspended animation on the titular spaceship to find that every other passenger died from a radiation leak three million years earlier.
Like every other MCU project, Loki is notable for its sense of humor. It’s not a full-blown comedy like Red Dwarf, but it does share the quality of not taking itself too seriously.
Orphan Black
The unsettling five-season run of Orphan Black begins with a young woman witnessing the suicide of somebody who looks exactly like her. After assuming this person’s identity, she’s drawn into a shocking conspiracy.
Like Loki, Orphan Black revolves around multiple versions of the same person. Where Loki has “variants,” Orphan Black has clones. Tatiana Maslany, the incredibly talented star of Orphan Black, is about to join the MCU in the role of Jen Walters, better known as She-Hulk.
Westworld
Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy’s HBO adaptation of Westworld has left behind the simplistic storytelling of Michael Crichton’s source material. The series is a surprisingly thought-provoking take on the premise of a robot-infested Wild West-themed amusement park.
In both Loki and Westworld, the characters’ reality is not what they think it is. A few episodes in, they have the rug pulled out from under them and face a juicy existential crisis.
Lost
One of the most popular TV dramas of the 2000s, Lost centers on the survivors of a plane crash who establish a settlement on a mysterious island and begin to suspect that they’re not alone.
Loki’s long-running mysteries, shady organizations, and abundance of plot twists are reminiscent of Lost. Series co-creator J.J. Abrams’ famous “mystery box” keeps the audience guessing for 121 episodes.
Black Mirror
Positioned as a modern-day Twilight Zone, Black Mirror is a haunting anthology series drawing terror from humanity’s reliance on technology. There are episodes about a hashtag that kills celebrities, an Instagram-style app whose ratings determine people’s social standing, and the British Prime Minister being forced to have sex with a pig on national television.
Black Mirror’s penchant for exploring dark alternate universes is similar to Loki. Whereas Loki deviates from the mainline Marvel universe, Charlie Brooker’s social sci-fi gem deviates from a familiar tech-savvy world.
Doctor Who
Since it first hit the airwaves over half a century ago, Doctor Who has been a staple of science fiction. It’s about the adventures of a 2,000-year-old time traveler played by 13 different actors and counting.
Thanks to its time-traveling antics and goofy tone, Loki has been compared to Doctor Who since it premiered. The Guardian’s review of the show even called it “Doctor Who with a big budget.”
The Prisoner
The mother of all cult classics, The Prisoner stars Patrick McGoohan as a government agent who’s imprisoned in a mysterious seaside village isolated from the rest of the world. Under the watchful eye of floating “rovers,” he’s unable to escape.
Some of the more surreal concepts in Loki, like the alligator version of Loki and the animatronic Time-Keepers, wouldn’t be out of place in the bizarre world of The Prisoner.