Tom Hiddleston is back in Pompeii — but this time as the star of a new National Geographic show, rather than in character as Loki.
The Marvel actor's three-part docu-drama series, Pompeii: Out of Time with Tom Hiddleston follows the lives of several potential survivors as they attempt to outrun the most famous volcanic eruption in history.
Destroyed during the detonation of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, the Roman city of Pompeii was quickly overwhelmed — leaving the vast location and its citizens effectively frozen in time until archaeological excavations began, more than 1,500 years later.
Pompeii has since been the subject of numerous documentaries and dramatizations, with time-travelling shows such as Doctor Who and Loki both visiting the city during its apocalyptic end. Hiddleston himself has also long been fascinated with Pompeii, with a visit there as a teenager inspiring him to pitch its later appearance in Loki to Marvel executives — resulting in one of the series' most memorable episodes.
Now, Hiddleston has pitched another trip to Pompeii to National Geographic, yet another Disney brand, and made a series that blends historical discoveries with speculative recreations, and a hint of Loki time-travelling magic as new information allows for fates of its characters to turn out differently.
The series' first episode, challenges the narrative that citizens in Pompeii would have had no warning over the disaster, while later chapters explore a possible naval rescue, and what those who did survive the ordeal would have been faced with.
Speaking to the Hollywood Reporter, Hiddleston said the series was created thanks to yet another Marvel connection, too: the success of various National Geographic series made by his on-screen brother Chris Hemsworth, who plays Thor. Recent years have seen the Thor star take on extreme stunts in Limitless, and reconnect with his father to navigate his early-stage Alzheimer's diagnosis in A Road Trip to Remember.
"When National Geographic got in touch about making something in the non-fiction space, I definitely felt really encouraged by Chris’ experience," Hiddleston said. "I could see that working in this way actually stretches you as a performer, and it became a thrilling expansion of my curiosity about different types of storytelling."
"Everybody saw the fun in using Loki as a jumping-off point and a connecting of the dots," says producer Kevin R. Wright, who also worked on Loki.
Interested? National Geographic's Pompeii: Out of Time with Tom Hiddleston is available now via Disney+ and Hulu. And as for Loki himself, the character will return later this year in Avengers: Doomsday, due in theaters this December.
Image credit: Dave Benett/Getty Images for National Geographic and Disney+.
Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
