The Unusual Way Tara Strong Was Cast For Miss Minutes In Loki - Exclusive
Miss Minutes was one of the big breakout characters of "Loki." Though her screentime was limited, she immediately captured the imagination of fans and has been the source of speculation before we even heard her voice. Miss Minutes is voiced by Tara Strong, a legend of voice acting with over a thousand voice credits to her name. Looper spoke with her about Miss Minutes, and in particular asked about the mystery of the character.
Strong loves playing the character, which is no surprise — Miss Minutes certainly seems like a fun character to voice, especially when the season finale reveals that the character is hiding some secrets. When asked if she was told all the details about the character at the outset or learned as production went on, she told Looper, "I definitely found out in real time, as we went along and learned of her arc, day by day, as we did it. And it was extraordinary and fun and exciting and surprising and so rewarding to see people loving her. I'm so happy." This isn't the only information that was withheld from her: she was cast in a blind audition, and had no idea what she was reading for. Spoilers for "Loki" Season 1 to follow!
A blind audition led Tara Strong to Loki
Strong was far from alone — many of the other actors had no idea that they were auditioning for a Marvel property, let alone "Loki," until they were cast. When asked if blind auditions like this are rare, she emphatically stated, "It never happens. It's very rare that I'm auditioning for something that I don't know. Often, I'll be doing a show that they don't want people to know about. So in communications, they give it a code name, particularly for a DC video game, or something like that. But it's very rare that I'll have an audition that I don't know what it is. I often have to sign NDAs, but I still know what it is. So this is a pretty unusual circumstance."
She wasn't even given much of a heads up about the character: "Normally, you get a drawing of the character, you get a character description, or a show bible. You maybe even get the whole script. That was not the case. I got pretty limited information and just the sides, which I did initially at my home studio. And then I didn't really know what it was until I booked it. And then I didn't know the depth of who she was until I started working with Kate and the rest of the cast on Zoom."
Of course, there's a good reason that Strong wasn't given all of the information about her character — as the Season 1 finale of "Loki" reveals, Miss Minutes is actually the direct through-line between the Time Variance Authority and He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors), who's revealed as a form of the legendary Marvel villain Kang the Conqueror. The reveal about Miss Minutes' true allegiance was certainly a shock for fans — and it's pretty likely Strong was fairly surprised as well.
Loki is streaming on Disney+ now.