At the moment, the X-Men universe isn’t in the best shape. On the cinematic side, we’ve got spinoffs like Deadpool 2 and New Mutants simmering away in development, but there’s been nothing official from 20th Century Fox on when the next sequel in the main series will be released, or which actors are returning for it. Rumors point to the film adapting The Dark Phoenix Saga and being called X-Men: Supernova, but again, the studio has yet to comment, leaving fans to wonder just what exactly’s going on with our favorite mutants.
In terms of television, the franchise has two properties in the works but there’s a bit of confusion as to how they’ll tie into everything. We’ve got Legion, which premieres next month on FX, and then an untitled family drama coming to us from Matt Nix and nearing a pilot order. However, up until now, it hasn’t really been explained where they’ll place in the wider X-Men universe. Thankfully, producer Lauren Shuler Donner has opened up a little bit about exactly that, telling IGN that the films won’t have to worry about what’s going on over on the small screen.
First up, she spoke about Legion, saying that while the show will “touch on” main character David Haller’s father (Professor Xavier), it’s still going to be “separate” from the movies and exist in “its own world.”
“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. 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.”
As for the family drama, Donner said the following:
“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.”
This is no doubt exactly what fans want to hear. Having the two mediums steer clear of each other is a smart move and one that will hopefully lead to both shows being successful. Admittedly, what we’ve heard about the family drama doesn’t exactly excite us, at least not yet, but Legion looks pretty special and expectations for it are certainly high. Whether it can deliver and get people interested in the X-Men universe again after the underwhelming Apocalypse remains to be seen, but at the very least, it’s nice to know that it will be able to play in its own world and not have to be tied down by the films.