Fox Still in Negotiations With Marvel to Develop X-MEN TV Series
Earlier this year, it was announced that Fox was looking to develop an X-Men TV series, and at the time they were in negotiations with Marvel about trying to make it a reality. This is what they said at the time of confirmation:
"It's in negotiations," [Fox entertainment chairman Gary] Newman confirms. "We're cautiously optimistic, we had a good meeting with [Marvel]. That will not be on a fast track creatively. This is just the deal, now we have to find the creative."
Well, six months later it looks like nothing has progressed. In a new interview with THR, Fox Television Group chairman and CEO Dana Walden said this:
"[For] X-Men, we're in negotiations with Marvel. We're hopeful we'll be able to announce something soon. We're not closed on a deal yet but it's something we're definitely pursuing."
She goes on to say the series will not crossover with anything Marvel is doing, but the show will connect with the movies Fox has been making.
“The characters from the X-Men franchise are with Fox on the feature side. So we won’t be including Marvel characters that are at ABC with Disney. This will be exclusively the franchise as it has existed at Fox.”
The potential live-action series is being written by Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne, who worked on Star Trek 3. They will also share a "created by" credit with 24's Evan Katz and Manny Coto, who will serve as the showrunners on the series.
The report goes on to say, "While conversations to bring the franchise to the small screen are underway, sources indicate a deal is far from complete, with Marvel — which owns the comic rights — still having to sign off on the deal."
So, there you have it. Maybe one day they will make a deal, and the project will go through, or it won't. We'll just have to wait and see. With all of the TV projects that Marvel is developing at the moment, I don't see why they would give Fox the permission to make an X-Men series, and I'll be very surprised if they do.
There have also been rumors of Quicksilver appearing in the series, which you can read about here.