The X-Men Series LEGION Will Be Whimsical, Imaginative, and Unexpected
Fargo series creator Noah Hawley is hard at work developing a new X-Men series for FX called Legion. The series centers around a character named David Haller, who will be played by Dan Stevens. He is the son of Professor X, and he’s a powerful mutant with multiple personality disorder. Each of his multiple personalities controls a different aspect of his mutant powers, which makes him one of the most interesting characters in the X-Men universe.
During an interview with Vanity Fair, Noah talked about the series and explained what will make it different from all of the other superhero projects in TV and film that we’re seeing get made these days. He says:
“Film and TV have traded places where, you know, where you are now in a case-of-the-week movie world. One week, the Avengers fight this guy; the next week, they fight that guy. You can’t take the story too far in any one direction.”
Hawley is looking to completely avoid the episodic structure that we’ve become accustomed to, and will structure the show around the content of the story. He explained:
“I always feel like the structure of a story should reflect the content of the story. If the story, as in this case, is about a guy who is either schizophrenic or he has these abilities, i.e., he doesn’t know what’s real and what’s not real, then the audience should have the same experience.”
He goes on to say that he is going to create a “more existential exploration” and “surreal or dreamlike quality where it’s not just about running and kicking.” He explained:
“There’s, whatever, 9,000 superhero stories right now. They’ve got all the running and kicking covered. I think my goal with this is to do something whimsical and imaginative and unexpected. Not just because I want to do something different, but because it feels like the right way to tell this story.”
That’s awesome. I love that kind of stuff. I think Marvel has done a good job with this kind of storytelling style in their Netflix series like Daredevil and Jessica Jones. They really get into the meat of the story and characters, and it’s just not the about the fighting.
Legion is currently shooing, and if the pilot gets picked up by FX it will run for 10 episodes. The series will not be connected to the X-Men cinematic universe as it supposedly takes place in a parallel universe. This will allow it to not be bound by anything that the films are doing.