Briton Tom Hiddleston has been cast as Loki, Thor’s nemesis, so reports Nikki Finke. Hiddleston has worked alongside director Kenneth Branagh on two previous occasions – in Ivanov at Wyndhams Theatre, London, and in the BBC miniseries, Wallander.

Hiddelston was also considered for the Thor role.

We recently reported that the Thor casting was in its final stages, now we have our first solid casting news. Chris Hemsworth will be playing Thor in Kenneth Branagh’s big screen adaptation as well as in 2012 as part of The Avengers movie. You may have just seen him as Captain George Kirk in Star Trek, he’s also starring as the lead in Red Dawn and Joss Whedon’s ‘Cabin in the Woods’.

How Chris was cast

The way Chris Hemsworth got the part of Thor is one of those great Hollywood backstories that happens only once in a blue moon. Ward had found Chris during one of the manager’s many scouting trips to Australia. Ward brought him to Los Angeles and really put him out there to casting directors and production executives. As for the major agencies, I hear CAA passed on the meeting, Endeavor took it but passed on repping him, and ICM was interested but dragged their feet. But Ilene Feldman understood his appeal immediately.

Chris had read for the part of Thor but wasn’t given a test because a casting director had nixed him early on. I’m told Chris’ younger brother Liam (who’s also a ROAR client) then tested for the role of Thor, but Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige passed. Then, after a conversation with Ward (“You’ve got to reconsider Chris, he’s your guy”), Feige decided to let Chris read again. [...] Branagh came to town last week and saw the Chris test and made the final casting decision today.

Our old list of probable casting decisions did not include Hemsworth:

Charlie Hunnam
Tom Hiddleston
Alexandar Skarsgard
Liam Hemsworth
Joel Kinnaman.

Director Kenneth Branagh has spoken out about the Thor casting again, this time with MTV:

“We’re down to the final stages of it [...] The reason one has to be properly diplomatic, is simply that some talented peopled have been patient, kind, creative and really committed to working with us in this process.”

“My reluctance to say anything about it is simply out of respect for people who have been extremely respectful of us. [...] That said, I think we are extremely close and I hope to announce a decision sooner rather than later.”

Kevin Feige, the President of Production at Marvel Studios, recently spoke to Empire to fill us in on their upcoming features – informing us that casting decisions on Loki, Odin and the main female role will be made shortly (Natalie Portman and Josh Hartnett are rumored). Production is likely to begin at the start of next year.

“We will probably be having cast announcements in the next month or so on Thor,” he told us. “We’re looking to cast Loki and Odin soon, and the main female role. And we’ll also hopefully have lockdown shortly, gearing towards the beginning of production, which will be early next year. So I think there will be a lot of announcements between now and then.”

“But [director Kenneth] Branagh’s here, we’re prepping, and he’s put together some spectacular animatics already for our first action scene. We’re digging into the second and third now, and we are just embarking on a rewrite of the draft.”