Tom Hiddleston, best known for playing Loki in the MCU, is launching a new National Geographic docuseries called *Pompeii: Out of Time*, blending scripted drama with investigative documentary to explore the hours before and during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Made with executive producer Kevin R. Wright, the series draws on archaeologists, historians, geologists and disaster experts to challenge established assumptions about Pompeii's final hours, presenting the event as a story of human resilience rather than pure destruction, ahead of Hiddleston's return as Loki in *Avengers: Doomsday*.

The show premieres on the National Geographic television channel tonight before streaming on Hulu and Disney+ from 23 July. Hiddleston, who first visited Pompeii as a 17-year-old in 1998, discussed the project with Collider, describing it as a "two-way street into the past" and noting it gave him a deeper awareness of the brevity of life; he also used the series to highlight how much of modern language, politics, architecture and social structures derive from ancient civilisations.