It’s a busy time at the moment for Tom Hiddleston. Post-Thor: Ragnarok, he’s been largely absent from our screens, other than appearing here and there as Loki in Infinity War and Endgame. But in a matter of months, he’ll be back in a big way when Marvel’s Disney+ Loki series drops – and he’s currently hard at work shooting Apple TV+’s adaptation of The Essex Serpent. Yes, he’s just been officially announced as part of the cast for the series adaptation of Sarah Perry’s award-winning novel, starring opposite Claire Danes. Hiddleston will be playing the role of William Ransome, a reverend in the Essex village of Aldwinter, where there’s a local superstition about a mythical creature known as the Essex Serpent.
As well as confirming that Hiddleston is in the show, the production has shared the first image of him in costume – check it out above. Danes is playing Cora, a woman trying to move beyond an abusive marriage, who moves from Victorian London to Aldwinter and is drawn in by the Essex Serpent myth. The series is shooting now, directed by acclaimed British director Clio Barnard – previously behind The Selfish Giant and The Arbor – and adapted by Anna Symon. The novel was a massive hit, having won Book Of The Year at the British Book Awards 2016, and also being named Waterstones Book Of The Year.
It’s no wonder Hiddleston has found himself joining the project – after all, there was that one time, when Loki and Thor were children, he transformed himself into a snake (and he knows Thor loves snakes), so Thor went to pick up the snake and admire it, and he transformed back into himself and went, ‘Blergh! It’s me!’ And then he stabbed him. Or something. No word yet on whether this scene will feature in The Essex Serpent – stay tuned to find out.