It seems like the entertainment industry cant get enough of comic book adaptations, as they are capitalizing on pretty much every popular comic book title ever made. For all of us X-Men fans, we will soon no longer have to wait for just X-Men movies, we will now have two new television shows. Fox just announced that it’s working on its own Marvel show, tentatively called Hellfire. Another Marvel show is also being developed for FX, called Legion. Both projects, based on Marvel’s X-Men comics, have “X-Men” feature helmer Bryan Singer attached as an exec producer. Fargo creator Noah Hawley is writing and exec producing Legion.
Hellfire will be set in the late 1960s, and will “follow a young Special Agent who learns that a power-hungry woman with extraordinary abilities is working with a clandestine society of millionaires – known as ‘The Hellfire Club’ – to take over the world.” Hellfire will more than likely take cues from Matthew Vaughan’s X-Men: First Class, a 1960’s period piece with the Hellfire Club at the center. Singer, Lauren Shuler Donner, Simon Kinberg, Evan Katz, Manny Coto, Jim Chory and Marvel’s Head of TV Marvel’s Jeph Loeb will serve as exec producers with Patrick McKay and JD Payne co-writing the script. “24” alums Katz and Coto will serve as showrunners. Hellfire hails from Marvel TV and 20th Century Fox with 20th handling the physical production of the series in development.
“We are thrilled to partner with Marvel to bring this world to television and build upon the vibrant mythology that has captivated fans for years,” says Fox’ Broadcasting’s David. Madden. “These powerful and dynamic characters are complicated and larger-than-life, the pace and visual imagination are unrelenting, and the story takes place during one of the most explosive eras in recent history. We are so looking forward to working with this incredibly talented team.”
The second Marvel/Fox TV project is being made for the FX network and is called Legion. X-Men fans may recognize the name Legion as the alter ego of Charles Xavier’s son, David Haller. The description reads, “The pilot introduces the story of David Haller: Since he was a teenager, David has struggled with mental illness. Diagnosed as schizophrenic, David has been in and out of psychiatric hospitals for years. But after a strange encounter with a fellow patient, he’s confronted with the possibility that the voices he hears and the visions he sees might be real.”
“Legion is just the sort of ambitious story that Noah excels at,” FX Networks’ Grad says. “His adaption of Fargo for television was one of the most acclaimed television events in recent memory. It’s also an honour to partner with Marvel on Legion and to enlist such an accomplished team of Executive Producers to create this pilot.”
Since they’re both in development, there’s no timetable for them to arrive on our TVs just yet. Stay tuned for details!
