Please allow Tom Hiddleston to be some kind of palate cleanser for this week. We need him. I need him. The Harvey Weinstein story has been dominating headlines and I can barely see past the mountain of new information that seems to be breaking every moment. So let’s rest our weary eyes on Tom’s new beard. It is glorious and gingery. He’s growing out his hair too, so overall, he’s giving me very Young Hot Professor vibes. Like, he’s the hot professor who is obsessed with Shakespeare and you think he would never date a student but then you hear about that one time that he banged Taylor Swift and you can never see him as a serious professor again. But still, he looks good! Well-rested and furry.

These photos are from last night’s LA premiere of Thor: Ragnarok. This was not Tom’s first public outing though – he was out and about several days ago, doing low-key promotion for his voice work on Early Man, a kid’s film. We just didn’t have those photos (there were few photographers at that event). I’ve actually been looking forward to the promotional tour for Ragnarok for months, because Hiddles has been in the wind since March, which was when he promoted the monkey movie. Hiddles has been underground for most of the year. I keep expecting to turn up with a new girlfriend, but I think he feels a little bit “once bitten, twice shy.” We might never see him out with another girlfriend. Sadface.

Still, the beard is good. This is good work from Hiddles.

Photos courtesy of WENN.