We’ve known that Fox was bringing mutants to the small screen in FX’s ‘Legion‘ which is based on the son of Charles Xavier though haven’t known much about which other mutants might be making an appearance. It seems while the X-Men and Xavier may or may not exist here, we have just learned that mental mutant abilities are going to be at the forefront of the series.
Here is the rundown of the main characters which doesn’t sound like we’ll have any of the flashier mutant abilities popping up, at least not right off the bat:
David has psychic abilities — telepathy and telekinesis among other things. He’s an omega mutant, he’s very powerful. Syd who’s played by Rachel Keller doesn’t like to be touched. If she touches your skin she trades places with you, her mind goes into your body and the other way around. We have an actor, Jeremy Harris, who plays a character named Ptonomy. He’s a memory artist. He remembers everything, and has the ability to take people back into their own memories, and helps David get into his mind. And there are other characters with other powers, but those are the main ones.
That being said, he is the son of Xavier in this and while a crossover might happen with known characters it wouldn’t be something that happens right off the bat as:
I’m firm believer the show has to stand on its own two feet. For a crossover to be possible we have to earn that right through the quality of our storytelling and hopefully our popularity. David’s origin story hasn’t changed, so we haven’t changed that connection to the X-Men universe.
Honestly, I think having David actually have to interact with Xavier at some point could be fascinating to watch though they really do have to flesh out who David is for the audience before that can happen.
We did learn how invested Marvel was in the project, though:
There’s no drama there, really, to talk about. It was a very positive relationship. Obviously, this show is a dramatic departure from their other shows. They’re controlling a roll-out of a series of characters on Netflix that are interconnected. So there’s a game-plan there for all of those pieces. This is a satellite that they didn’t generate and wasn’t trying to fit in and was something the network wanted. So [Marvel TV chief] Jeph Loeb offered me guidance. He has an objective eye on the fan base and how these stories tend to be received and gave me things to think about, either incorporating characters from the comic or creating them on my own — which I tended to do more than not. It was a helpful gauge. This is not a world that I’m used to telling stories in.
It seems like we’ll be getting a pretty stand alone piece of work here with potential future ties to portions of the X-Men franchise. I would think if the show does well that some of the younger actors in the X-Men films might be willing to show up but that is something that clearly wouldn’t be happening in the first season at the very least unless it was part of the finale.
Are you looking forward to checking out ‘Legion’? Share your thoughts below!
Synopsis:
Legion, based on the Marvel Comics by Chris Claremont and Bill Sienkiewicz, is the story of David Haller (Dan Stevens) – a troubled young man who may be more than human.
Diagnosed as schizophrenic as a child, David has been in and out of psychiatric hospitals for years. Now in his early 30s and institutionalized once again, David loses himself in the rhythm of the structured regimen of life in the hospital: breakfast, lunch, dinner, therapy, medications, sleep. David spends the rest of his time in companionable silence alongside his chatterbox friend Lenny (Aubrey Plaza), a fellow patient whose life-long drug and alcohol addiction has done nothing to quell her boundless optimism that her luck is about to change. The pleasant numbness of David’s routine is completely upended with the arrival of a beautiful and troubled new patient named Syd (Rachel Keller). Inexplicably drawn to one another, David and Syd share a startling encounter, after which he must confront the shocking possibility that the voices he hears and the visions he sees are the results of him being a mutant.
A haunted man, David escapes from the hospital and seeks shelter with his sister Amy (Katie Aselton). But Amy’s concern for her brother is trumped by her desire to protect the picture-perfect suburban life she’s built for herself. Eventually, Syd guides David to Melanie Bird (Jean Smart), a nurturing but demanding therapist with a sharp mind and unconventional methods. She and her team of specialists – Ptonomy (Jeremie Harris), Kerry (Amber Midthunder) and Cary (Bill Irwin) – open David’s eyes to an extraordinary new world of possibilities.
‘Legion’ will be messing with your mind on FX on February 8th, 2017!
Sources: Entertainment Weekly
Stuart Conover is an author, blogger, and all around geek. When not busy being a father and husband he tries to spend as much time as possible immersed in comic books, science fiction, and horror! Would you like to know more? Follow him on Twitter!
