Why “Loki ”fan-favorite Ke Huy Quan would time-slip back to one of the ‘lowest days’ of his life

The Academy Award winner talks season 2 of the Marvel series and being grateful for this moment: "I spent a lot of my younger days worrying about what tomorrow will bring."

To tap into the role of Ouroboros, the sole employee of the TVA’s Repairs & Advancement department in Loki season 2, Ke Huy Quan had to time-slip back to 1985.

Quan loved the character, nicknamed O.B., “instantly” upon reading the script, but he initially didn’t know how to approach him. It all clicked after he arrived on set at London’s Pinewood Studios. There, in a building named after James Bond actor Roger Moore, Quan felt the spirit of Data — the intrepid gadgeteer and Bond-obsessed adventurer he played in the 1985 classic The Goonies — within him.

“It dawned on me that Ouroboros is a variant of Data,” Quan tells Entertainment Weekly. “I just had to time-slip back to 1985 when I was a little kid and try to remember how I approached that character and his energy.”

Related: Ke Huy Quan's former Goonies costar inked the deal for him to star in Everything Everywhere All at Once

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In some ways, O.B. could also be observed as a Ke variant. Quan’s trajectory, well-documented in the joyous awards circuit for 2022’s Everything Everywhere All at Once, goes like this: A child star who quit acting in 2002 due to the scarcity of roles for Asian performers, Quan — inspired by the success of 2018’s Crazy Rich Asians — charted a triumphant comeback that concluded with an Oscar win for his work in EEAAO.

“There are some parallels there,” Quan says. “Every time I walk on a movie set, I try to remember what it was like when I was really hungry for a role. I still want to maintain that sense of gratitude and enthusiasm that I felt when I walked on a set for the very first time. That's what I wanted Ouroboros to be like; he worked by himself for all these years, yet he still approaches his job with a sense of gratitude, and there's so much passion behind that.”

If he had the ability, like Tom Hiddleston’s god of mischief, to time-slip back to any point in time, he knows where he would return: To “one of the lowest days" of his career, Quan says, and “tell myself that things are going to work out.” Quan revisits that “pivotal moment” and more below.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Robert Downey Jr. and Mark Ruffalo have said they don’t always understand their complicated Marvel lines. You’re tasked with some complex TVA terminology. How much of it did you understand upon receiving the scripts?

KE HUY QUAN: I didn't understand what they were. Multiplier, the Temporal Loom — I had no idea what it meant. So I had to go to our executive producer Kevin Wright and I said, "I have no idea what I'm saying, so you're going to have to show me visuals of what these terms mean." He was very collaborative and helpful. But also, luckily, I was tasked with a similar thing in Everything Everywhere All At Once, so I had practice. Going into this, it was a little bit easier, but still challenging. It was a lot of practice. 

You shared a fun Easter egg about O.B.’s belt being a callback to Data’s belt.  Did you take anything from set?

So Ouroboros wrote the TVA guidebook, right? When we were shooting, there were a lot of copies of that book on set. And the last week of our shoot, I was thinking that since my character wrote the TVA guidebook, I should have a copy, so I took a copy back to my trailer. And then the next day, our prop master came up to me and said, “Oh my god, Ke, we have one copy missing. Do you happen to have it?” He has this worried face and I couldn't lie to him. I asked him, can I keep it? And he said, "No, you can't keep it." Because at the end of the day, they always count every single prop that they have on set. Marvel was very strict about all the props. So I was really disappointed. And it was not until after I won the Oscar that I got a very special present from Kevin Feige and the Marvel team. They gave me a temp pad and also one of those tubes [from] Repairs & Advancement. So I guess all it takes is to win an Oscar to get a prop from a Marvel project!

What are the chances of O.B. popping up in future Marvel projects? Have there been discussions?

I would love to see him. I really don't know. That is a question for Mr. Kevin Feige himself. But when he called me and invited me to join the MCU family, I did ask him, "Is this a one-time thing or are we going to see more of him in the future?" And I remember him telling me, "Ke, we always give the fans what they want." So hopefully, fingers crossed that we get to see more of him because of how much fans love Loki and Ouroboros.

You’ve called O.B. a Data variant. I’ve also observed parallels between O.B. and you, Ke, and how, much like O.B. was sidelined in the basement for decades, it took some time for you to feel seen in Hollywood. Is that a fair assessment?

I certainly think I brought some of that into the character. In episode 1, when Loki and Mobius come to find Ouroboros and he descends from the ceiling — that first reaction of Ouroboros seeing somebody coming up for the very first time — certainly that kind of reminds me of being given an opportunity again after all these years. It's something that I've been longing for for so long. So certainly, I don't think you're wrong. There are some parallels there. Every time I walk on a movie set, I try to remember what it was like when I was really hungry for a role. I still want to maintain that sense of gratitude and enthusiasm that I felt when I walked on a set for the very first time. And that's what I wanted Ouroboros to be like; he worked by himself for all these years, yet he still approaches his job with a sense of gratitude, and there's so much passion behind that. 

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Do you still possess that fear of not knowing what the next job will be? How do you maintain that optimism in a space that still feels inhospitable to inclusivity? 

I still worry sometimes, even though it's been an incredible two years. Sometimes it still feels surreal that my phone rings from my agent calling me to tell me that somebody wants to work with me. I'm still surprised by that. But my parents have always taught me to never forget where you come from. So I always try to remember how hard it is to get here, and that's why I want to maintain that sense of gratitude. But yeah, sometimes I wonder if all of this is going to end, if things are going to be different tomorrow. I spent a lot of my younger days worrying about what tomorrow will bring. I know how hard it is when you're just sitting around waiting for someone to knock on your door. But if there's one [lesson] I learned from my younger self, it’s don't worry so much; things will work out sooner or later. And that's what happened to me. So I try not to worry too much now. I learned that from my wife, too.

If you could time-slip back to any point of your life, where would you go?

Oh, wow. There was one particular day in my 20s where I auditioned for a tiny role with two lines, and I couldn't get it. I was sitting at the edge of my bed waiting for the phone to ring, and I think it was one of the lowest days of my life. So if I could, I would time-slip back to that particular day and tell myself that things are going to work out. 

Related: Meet OB, Ke Huy Quan's quirky repair guy in Loki season 2

Do you remember what the audition was for?

There was no name for that character. It was just a description, a Viet Cong. I went and auditioned, and there were 30 other Asian actors fighting for this little role. And that was a pivotal moment in my life because that was when the idea of stepping away from acting started percolating. But in retrospect, it was really a blessing because it was during that period where I decided to go to film school. I went to USC film school, graduated, and started working behind the camera. I'm very grateful for that time because now I have that knowledge of working behind the camera, and also knowing it's not just about the actors but everybody else behind the camera to bring a project together. I became a lot more appreciative of everybody on a production, from the guy who pushes the dolly to the boom operator to the craft service guy. It just made me a much better person. Had I not gone through those times, who knows what I would be like today?

Loki is streaming on Disney+.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.