Despite Legion’s leading character hailing from the X-Men universe, fans of the Marvel property should not expect the FX project to crossover with the film franchise.
Legion, which is being developed by Fargo’s Noah Hawley, tells the story of David Haller, who was diagnosed schizophrenic as a teenager and spent years in and out of psychiatric hospitals. But after an encounter with a fellow patient, he’s confronted with the possibility that the voices he hears and the visions he sees might be real. For those of you who haven’t read the comics, Haller is actually the mutant son of X-Men leader Professor Charles Xavier.
However, you shouldn’t expect Patrick Stewart or James McAvoy to pop up since Legion takes place in a parallel universe. “It’s not in the continuity of those films in the sense that the current X-Men films take place in a universe where everybody on planet earth is aware of the existence of mutants,” FX boss John Landgraf said at the Television Critics Association press tour on Saturday. “The series Legion takes place takes place in a parallel universe in which the U.S. Government is in the early days of being aware that something called mutants exist, but the public does not. I wouldn’t foresee characters moving back and forth because they really are parallel universes.”
Still, the project is backed by some high-profile X-Men and Marvel producing talent. Hawley (Fargo) will write the pilot and serve as an executive producer along with Lauren Shuler Donner (X-Men: Days of Future Past), Bryan Singer (X-Men: Days of Future Past), Simon Kinberg (X-Men: Days of Future Past, The Martian), Jeph Loeb (Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Jim Chory (Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Marvel’s Daredevil) and John Cameron (Fargo).
“We’re already in active prep,” Langraf said. “We’re building sets. Our writers room is already assembled and has already beaten out the first season.” In fact, he expects Legion to be on the air at some point in 2016.