Fox has handed out its first pilot order of the 2017 TV season to an untitledX-Men TV series, which hails from 20th Century Fox Television and Marvel Television andBurn NoticecreatorMatt Nix. The project was given a “put pilot commitment” back in July, which practically guarantees that the show will make it to the airwaves. The network would have to pay a penalty to the studio if the pilot does not air on television. The project has been riding a wave of buzz at the network after the early script drafts were well received.
Deadlinereports that the final pilot green light was contingent upon the final script draft delivered byMatt Nix. And now it’s official. The story will focus on two ordinary parents who discover their children possess mutant powers. Forced to go on the run from a hostile government, the family joins up with an underground network of mutants and must fight to survive. The pilot script is said to be incredibly timely, mirroring the plight of minorities in today’s society. It’s also worth noting that, while promoting his new upcoming Fox seriesAPBat the TCA Winter Tour,Matt Nixconfirmed this untitled show will actually be connected to theX-Menmovie universe, unlike FX’sLegion. Here’s what he had to say below.
“How should I put this? Without getting into specifics that I’ll get murdered for getting into, I would say that a fan of the movies, particularly the movies, but also the comic books, would not be disoriented at all as to where this fits in the mythology. I guess I’d say that if you look at the movies, which take place from whatever, they started in 2000 to now… they don’t all line up perfectly. You know what I mean? So it’s not like, I’m not slavishly fitting myself into a particular slot. But at the same time, if you like that world, if you like the world of the movies, there are definite nods to it. It definitely exists in the same general kind of universe, if that makes sense.”
Exploratory casting has already gotten under way, which will ramp up even more now that the pilot has been given the green light.Matt Nixwrote the pilot script and will serve as an Executive Producer.Lauren Shuler Donner(X-Men: Apocalypse,X-Men: Days of Future Past,The Wolverine),Bryan Singer(X-Men: Apocalypse,X-Men: Days of Future Past),Simon Kinberg(X-Men: Days of Future Past,Fantastic Four),Jeph Loeb(Marvel’sDaredevil, Marvel’sJessica Jones) andJim Chory(Marvel’sDaredevil, Marvel’sJessica Jones) serve as Executive Producers. The executive producers are also behind FX’sLegion, which debuts next month, along with anotherX-Menshow that never made it to series.
At the same time that FX orderedLegion, Fox picked upHellfire, a series set in the late 1960s. The story was to 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.J.D. PayneandPatrick McKay, who wrote an early version of theStar Trek Beyondscript, were brought on to write the pilot and executive produce, but it never moved forward. If this series does move forward, which seems likely given the put pilot commitment, it would put Fox an a very interesting position moving forward.
If this Untited Fox Marvel X-Men TV Show does get a series order, it would make Fox the only show on broadcast or cable to play host to both aMarvel TV showand a DC Comics show, withGothamandLuciferstill going strong. The network is also developing another DC project,Black Lightning, but Fox’sDavid Maddensaid a pilot order for this series would not have any impact onBlack Lightning. It seems Fox could give start to give The CW and ABC a run for their money when it comes to superhero shows on the small screen. Hopefully we’ll learn more about this untitled show, and the cast in the very near future.
