Tom Hiddleston Awkwardly Endures His Unreleased Thor Audition Footage On ‘The Tonight Show’

Any devoted Tom Hiddleston fan could never envision anyone else as the gloriously burdened Loki. It was rather genius, actually, that Marvel plucked up a rising theater actor (one recognized as the Olivier Awards’ Most Promising Newcomer in 2008 for Cymbaline) to play the Asgardian antihero, but another bit of not-so-secret trivia is that Hiddleston never auditioned for Loki at all. Rather, he “had a go” at playing the God of Thunder in his auditions for 2011’s Thor. Glimpses at Hiddleton’s screentests have previously been revealed in behind-the-scenes clips, but as for the full-on audition footage It remained under wraps until Monday, when The Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon surprised him with a Marvel-provided clip in front of a live audience.

Oh boy. Hiddleston seemed rather embarrassed when he realized what he was about to endure, and you can see the results after the 2:00 minute mark above. “I think we can all agree that they cast the right actor,” he offered up after the clip, and one would have to agree that Hiddleston wasn’t simply being diplomatic. Loki was the role for him, and Chris Hemsworth continues to own Thor and guide him through unanticipated new phases as the MCU continues. As for Hiddleston’s explanation of why he took a stab at playing the muscle-bound character, he kept things simple.

“At the time, they were looking for less well-established actors so the audience wouldn’t have an association,” he explained. “They wanted people to see these new characters, these new actors. The remit was, if you’re over 6 foot and you’ve got blond hair, you could come and have a pop at it.” And so he did.

Hiddleston will begin shooting Disney+’s Loki series in 2020 for a spring 2021 release.