Loki director Kate Herron won't be back for season 2

Herron—who both executive produced and directed every episode of the series—has been a behind-the-scenes force and a public face for the show over the last few months, discussing its various twists and turns, its distinctive look, and its copious callbacks to comics history. But when asked yesterday (by Deadline) about whether she’d back for the surprise-announced second season, her answer suggested that the decision to continue Loki—a first for the Disney+ MCU shows—had been at least partially a surprise for her, as well:

I always planned to be just on for this, and to be honest, Season 2 wasn’t in the —that’s something that just came out, and I’m so excited. I’m really happy to watch it as a fan next season, but I just think I’m proud of what we did here and I’ve given it my all.

In confirming that she won’t be coming back for the second season, Herron also functionally absolved herself for any potential spoilers about the series, or about the role that Jonathan Majors—who appeared in a pivotal role in the season finale—might play in the wider MCU. (Majors is also set to play a, uh, variant of his Loki character in Quantumania, a role that, Herron revealed in a different recent interview, he was set up for as part and parcel of the Loki casting process.)

Herron—whose pre-Loki credits include a multi-episode directing stint on Netflix’s Sex Education—noted that, while she’d be open to working with Marvel again in the future, she’s currently “focusing on my own stuff at the moment.”