What a joy it’s been witnessing Ke Huy Quan’s return to the limelight. Of course, “joy” gets thrown around a lot when it comes to the actor, as Quan absolutely radiates it everywhere he goes. Unsurprisingly, this exclusive clip from the upcoming Loki Season 2 is no exception.
Meet O.B., the Time Variance Authority’s (TVA) basement-dwelling mastermind. We still don’t know much about him, but Quan mentions in the clip that he’s eager for us to meet the character and to learn what he’s all about. “It’s been such a joy to make this,” Quan says in the featurette. “I just can’t wait for the audience to know more about him.”
We’re able to cobble together at least some knowledge with what we’ve seen of the show so far. We know he has a good relationship with Mobius — because who doesn’t, really — and that he is very, very smart.
"His job is basically every piece of tech, every computer, every thing that is running at the TVA," Loki executive producer Kevin Wright told EW. "He either designed it, or he fixes it and keeps it running."
Now that Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and Mobius (Owen Wilson) have formed a stronger relationship — one that both parties seem to remember in the existing footage for Loki Season 2 despite last season’s cliffhanger — the two need another character to drag them down to Earth now and again. It seems O.B. is helping fill that role (alongside Sophia di Martino’s Sylvie, we assume) in addition to being what appears to be an invaluable new member of the team.
It seems that not many people head downstairs to visit O.B., so it’s possible he falls into the archetype of “actual genius who gets reduced to tech support by the rest of his colleagues.” If that ends up being the case, this will be of great advantage to Loki, Mobius, and the rest of the tiny rebellion they’re leading against Kang — who appears to be in charge of the TVA in the timeline Loki and Sylvie accidentally created at the end of Season 1 — and the upcoming fight against the variant Victor Timely.
Whether he’ll be in a pivotal role or not remains to be seen, but no matter his level of involvement, it’s great to see Ke Huy Quan step into the MCU. Especially in a role that will keep us laughing for what will likely be dark days ahead for Loki and his companions.
“Do you think this is a higher priority than preventing a temporal meltdown?”
Well, no. O.B. no we don’t!
