Loki director turned a curry house outside London into 1980's Oklahoma for that McDonald's scene
In the absence of time travel, directors need to get creative with location choices
No matter how powerful technology becomes, it has its limitations. For a time-hopping story like Loki, that can mean trying to recreate the distinct architecture and design of one of the world’s most recognizable brands in the 1980s. For a scene taking place in an Oklahoma McDonald’s during the 1980s, Loki director Dan DeLeeuw found the right set in a surprising place. Be warned that there are some very minor spoilers for Loki Season 2 Episode 2 and its implications for the Marvel Multiverse ahead.
DeLeeuw discussed the process for finding the right location for the scene, which sees Loki variant Sylvie living her best life as a fast-food worker, in a recent interview. The trouble was finding somewhere that looked like a McDonald’s in 1982. “We talked about doing it on a stage, but we found a restaurant 40 minutes outside of London that had been empty for a year or so,” he explained, saying that it even came with a bit of farmland outside “that could double for Oklahoma.”
What drew the team to that particular location, which had been a curry restaurant in a previous life? The curved windows, which were something that McDonald’s put in most of their buildings at the time. With a bit of paint and some visual effects on the outside, DeLeeuw’s production team managed to transport an old, abandoned curry house into a surprisingly convincing 1980s McDonald’s for the Disney+ series, which feels appropriate considering the ongoing partnership between the show and the fast-food giant.
Looking for something to watch while waiting for the next episode of Loki? Our guide to every TV show about to drop for both broadcast and streaming services is sure to have something that can help.
