The 20th Century Fox, in collaboration with Marvel Television, is launching a new series, titled "Legion," bringing to life another X-men comic book character. Executive producer Simon Kinberg said that the nature of the series is similar to "Deadpool," since it has an indirect connection with the X-men lore.
In the comics, David Haller, a.k.a Legion, is known to be Professor Charles X. Xavier's bastard son, both a hero and a villain. He has an infinite set of mental powers each assigned to his different personalities. Kinberg said via Moviefone that they made the storyline very character oriented for it to stand as part of X-men, but with a twist to make it stand apart.
The concept for the "Legion" mini-series follows the idea that each character incarnation would acceptably be an alternate universe version of the other, as explained by Kinberg. Recent movie franchises have hinted the possibilities of crossovers but he explained that this is what makes "Legion" different.
Kinberg further describes how "Legion" will be totally different, as the TV series would focus on the protagonist's struggle with his mutant powers, which was initially perceived as a mental illness. The plot starts off with David being diagnosed with Schizophrenia and later discovers that his hallucinations and psychosis could be a manifestation of his developing psychic abilities.
Kinberg saw that the success of "Deadpool" film has proven that other Marvel characters could stand out and justify their own independent stories. He believes that with the creative intelligence of Noah Hawley, they will be able to give justice to Legion's character. The two will be working with other "X-men" cinematic experts including Bryan Singer and Lauren Donner.
"Legion" is set to premiere in FX by 2017, having only 8 episodes confirmed so far. Dan Stevens, known for his role in "Downtown Abbey," will play the main character of David Haller.
