Fargo Producer Noah Hawley has opened up about Legion, the X-Men spinoff series that will debut on FX.
FX came to Hawley to produce the series. Legion, which is a reference to Professor X’s schizophrenic son David Charles Haller. The show will center around Haller, a mutant whose powers are based on the multiple personalities that reside in his psyche.
Will the show have any connection to the big screen universe? Hawley told TV Insider that the show will standalone, separate of Fox’s X-Men cinematic universe. “It’s conceived more as a standalone. I don’t want to say too much more about it on that level, but certainly it’s not constructed as a back-door anything. It’s more just that there’s a story that I want to explore that has to fit into that larger universe, which is exciting.”
It feels like a much safer option, to develop a standalone X-Men series, as the television series could venture into a darker, more mature territory that is not necessarily encouraged in the cinematic counterparts, while remaining in line where FX has ventured before, with shows such as Hawley’s Fargo, Louis, and Wilfred, to name a few. However, if it is a flop and is quickly canceled, which doesn’t seem like with Hawley at the helm, then the producers don’t have to worry about storylines that could affect the larger, overarching cinematic universe.
Hawley also spoke about what drew him to Legion. He mentioned that Haller is a “character who is schizophrenic on some level, a character struggling with mental illness. Is he crazy or does he have these powers? The answer is, kind of both.” It may give us some insight on how Haller will operate as a character. Will his powers bring about his schizophrenia, or is he dealing with both the idea of being a mutant and a crippling mental illness?
The acclaimed Fargo producer also spoke on how his take on storytelling will be seen with the story behind Professor X’s troubled son. “I’m a big believer that the structure of a story should reflect the content of the story. And so I liked the idea that if you have a character that doesn’t know what’s real and what’s not real, that is also the audience’s journey.” It means audiences will be subject to a very interesting take on storytelling, as not knowing the exact journey of our hero may be portrayed in a similar manner to the critically acclaimed Mr. Robot.
Finally, TV Insider and Hawley spoke about the rights between Marvel and Fox. Hawley stated that the series almost didn’t go to order, as he was working on it between Fargo season 1 and season 2. The concept of the show sounded too tricky for FX producers, as they weren’t sure it would be as received as Hawley’s Fargo. However, the press release deliberately left out X-Men, as Hawley wants the tv series to standalone of the movies.
The series is looking to begin shooting at the end of January. Stay tuned to The Nerd Stash for all your X-Men news!
