Last January, Fox signaled its desire to bring the X-Men to television…and Marvel’s silence on the matter seemed to preclude any deal from happening.
The good news is that Marvel and Fox are talking again, and they’ve reached a deal that will bring two X-Men related TV series to Fox and FX. But if you were hoping for an actual X-Men TV show, that’s not in the cards.
Instead, Fox is producing Hellfire, based on the Hellfire Club characters that were used in X-Men: First Class. Like that film, Hellfire is set during the 1960s and it will follow “a young Special Agent who learns that a power-hungry woman with extraordinary abilities is working with a clandestine society of millionaires – known as ‘The Hellfire Club’ – to take over the world.”
Related: Fox Hasn’t Given Up on An X-Men TV Series
Hellfire will take place in the X-Men universe laid out by the films, but that may prove to be problematic for this series because Sebastian Shaw and Emma Frost are immediately off the table after the events of First Class. Maybe the young woman in the show description is the Black Queen a.k.a. Selene, a psychic vampire whom comic fans may recall is anything but “young” despite her physical appearance.
Evan Katz and Manny Coto (24) created the concept for the Hellfire series earlier this year, but Star Trek Beyond screenwriters Patrick McKay and JD Payne will be the ones writing the actual script and serving as the showrunners.
On FX, Fargo writer and executive producer Noah Hawley is bringing Legion to TV. The Legion series follows David Haller, a mentally ill young man who has been “diagnosed as schizophrenic.” The official description adds that “David has been in and out of psychiatric hospitals for years. But after a strange encounter with a fellow patient, he’s confronted with the possibility that the voices he hears and the visions he sees might be real.”
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In the X-Men comics, Haller is the son of Professor X and each of his different personalities has a unique mutant power. Haller was also the star of X-Men: Legacy before that series came to a conclusion. The Legion TV series will also reportedly share continuity with the X-Men films.
Honestly? These are really underwhelming X-Men characters to bring to television. It’s going to come down to execution to make these shows work, as neither series will feature the X-Men branding. Hopefully Marvel got something good out of this deal. Otherwise, it’s a head scratcher.
What do you think about the two X-Men related TV series? Unleash your judgment below!
