The trailers for Loki definitely kept us guessing, but it was shots of the God of Mischief in Avengers Tower (talking about his "Glorious Purpose") and Asgard (where he appeared to be King) that really grabbed the attention of fans. As the series progressed, speculation started running rampant about what those unseen moments meant for the show.
Some believed it could be a glimpse into the life of a "King Loki" Variant who actually beat The Avengers (with him later revealed as Loki's big bad), while others wondered if the villain might return to the timeline and manipulate events to his liking.
Well, the truth is that all the theories were wrong!
Talking to TV Line, director Kate Herron explained that these were simply "memory scenes in Asgard," from when Loki was being shown highlights - and lowlights - from his life by the TVA.
"They tended to lean a bit more into comedy, and the scenes weren’t bad. But when we were putting the edit together, they were quite near where [Loki] sees Frigga [dying]," the filmmaker explains. "Obviously, we didn’t want to take away from that moment, because it’s his mom dying and it’s very emotional. It’s always tricky. The scenes weren’t necessarily not good, but they weren’t quite sitting right. That’s why there’s sometimes bits that people see that don’t end up in the show."
In the same interview, Herron elaborated on her decision not to return to helm a second season of Loki, explaining that "For me, there’s no bad feelings."
"It’s a lot for one director to do six hours, particularly in the Marvel way. We didn’t have the showrunner system. We ran this like a giant film, which I’m forever grateful for and was a massive opportunity for me. But I threw so much at it, and it’s a lot. I’m so proud that I got to work on it. I felt like this was my bit for Loki’s story, and I hope I work with Marvel again in the future."
That's definitely good to hear, especially after what proved to be a stellar first season of Loki. Whether Marvel Studios plans to release any deleted scenes for the show remains to be seen, but with no physical media release planned, that would have to be done on Disney+ just like the movies (there's been no sign of additional scenes from WandaVision and The Falcon and The Winter Soldier yet).