For any of you confused about the continuity in 20th Century Fox’s ‘X-Men’ franchise now that they are releasing two new television series’ featuring ‘X-Men’ characters (honestly, how can you not be), there was a recent interview between IGN and a producer for ‘Legion’ that helped shed some light on the situation, though it does not bode well for those hoping to see some of their cinematic heroes on the small screen.
While trying to explain how Matt Nix’s upcoming ‘X-Men’ family drama TV show is part of the film world and ‘Legion’ is not, producer Lauren Shuler Donner stated:
“Matt’s is much more a part of just the world in terms of there are mutants, mutants are hated and there are Sentinels — though very different from what we’ve seen before. You feel like you’re here in the X-Men world. With Legion, we’re our own universe. It gives Noah the freedom to do what he wants to do. Because we play with so many different timelines, and we rebooted and not really rebooted and all that, we felt like, OK, we’re going to throw it out there and hope the fans accept it.”
When asked about continuity and how everything will work together, she had the following to say about the future of the franchise:
“The cinematic universe will not worry about Legion. They will not worry about these TV worlds as all. They will just continue in the way that they have been continuing, and there is some great stuff that we are developing. I can just say it’s going to be new and different, and yet Legion and our other show, we’re not going to get in each other’s way.”
And as for any potential cross-overs and cameos, she commented:
“It depends. The feature side comes first, unfortunately, because it’s established. They’re our characters, so they come first, and as we decide feature world where we’re going, there are certain characters we know we won’t get into or if we do get into, it’s OK to have them have an appearance.”
To check out the full in depth interview where Donner discusses much more about ‘Legion,’ the ‘X-Men’ franchise, and the challenges they faced in creating the television series, head over to IGN. Otherwise, feel free to share your own thoughts in the comments section on how the creative forces behind the ‘X-Men’ franchise are handling the continuity across the television and film mediums, and if you feel it was the right choice for ‘Legion’ to stand on its own, or whether you would have preferred it to fit into the main cinematic continuity with everything else.
