Marvel And Fox Are Making An X-Men TV Series
A sign of things to come?
Fox and Marvel are joining forces to bring us an X-Men TV series, with the network making a put pilot commitment to a mutant-based show from Burn Notice creator Matt Nix.
As reported by Variety, the series will focus on two ordinary parents who discover their children possess mutant powers. This forces them underground on the run from the government, where they join a network of mutants and have to fight to survive. The show will be co-produced by Marvel Television and 20th Century Fox, with the latter handling the physical production.
Nix will serve as an executive producer, along with Bryan Singer, Lauren Shuler Donner, Simon Kinberg, plus Marvel’s Jeph Loeb and Jim Chory. David Madden, President of Entertainment at Fox Broadcasting Company, said:
"Developing a Marvel property has been a top priority for the network — and we are so pleased with how Matt Nix has led us into this thrilling universe. There’s comic book adventure, emotional and complicated relationships and a rich, existing mythology from which to draw. With the brilliant production crew behind this project, it has all the makings of a big, fun and exciting new series.”
Jeph Loeb, Marvel's head of television, added:
"Marvel Television is thrilled to be co-producing with 20th Century Fox Television on our first project. Matt’s a huge fan of ‘X-Men’ and his take on ‘X-Men,’ with its rich characters and high-stakes adventure, is exactly the show we want on Fox. It’s a great team of creative producers who will be making something entirely unique.”
It sounds like an interesting project, and is made more exciting by the prospect of Marvel and Fox working together. Given Marvel's success on the small-screen, in particular with their Netflix shows, and some considerable talent involved on Fox's side, there's reason to believe that this should work. However, Variety also reports that Hellfire, the previous series in production between the pair, is no longer going ahead - a shame, as it sounded pretty great.
It marks the second X-Men series in production under the Marvel Television banner, as they're also working on FX to produce Legion, which focuses on the character who is (in the comics at least) the son of Charles Xavier. Could all of this eventually lead to Marvel and Fox thrashing out a deal that allows the Fox-owned characters to appear in the MCU? That still seems a little further off, and would presumably involve a lot more legal wrangling, but with Fantastic Four and X-Men: Apocalypse both struggling, it might be edging a bit closer.
Are you excited for the new X-Men TV series? Share your thoughts down in the comments.