It’s been a minute since Owen Wilson had a major onscreen role—but soon the actor will be bringing his laid-back Texas drawl to the Marvel Universe as part of the new Disney+ series centered on Tom Hiddleston’s Loki.
Sources close to the project confirm Wilson’s involvement, although it’s still unknown which character Wilson will play. Brandon Davis, of the website comicbook.com, was the first to break the news. The series’ story line is also secret, beyond the fact that it will follow the alt-universe version of the trickster villain as he uses a stolen Tesseract cube (from the botched recovery attempt in Avengers: Endgame) to hopscotch through spacetime.
Perhaps this was meant to be. Hiddleston, who is known for pinpoint mimicry, once did an impression of Wilson playing the part of his charming cosmic bad guy.
Wilson, 51, hasn’t been seen on the big screen for about two years, with his last major role being a supporting part alongside Julia Roberts and Jacob Tremblay in director Stephen Chbosky’s Wonder, an adaptation of the best-selling novel by R.J. Palacio. He costarred with Ed Helms in the comedy Father Figures that same year—but otherwise, Wilson’s only appearance since has been a part as “Father Ra-Shawbard” on the spoof series Documentary Now!
Wilson never announced any formal break from acting, but the performer—best known for Zoolander, Wedding Crashers, and the Wes Anderson films Bottle Rocket, The Royal Tenenbaums, and The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou—is definitely coming off of a quiet period. Wilson has generally kept busy, not even taking much downtime after a time of personal crisis in 2007.
Wilson will also turn up in Anderson’s upcoming film, The French Dispatch, this summer, and will costar with Jennifer Lopez in the comedy Marry Me, about a glamorous pop star who decides on a whim to marry an ordinary, everyday guy. He’ll also appear opposite Salma Hayek in the sci-fi romance Bliss, about people who believe they live in a simulation.
The actor known as the Butterscotch Stallion rides again.
