Late last year a rumor regarding a potential, live-action X-Men television series began making the rounds online, and now that report has been confirmed by a Fox network exec.
“It’s in negotiations,” Fox entertainment chairman Gary Newman told TV Insider when asked about bringing the X-Men to the small screen. “We’re cautiously optimistic, we had a good meeting with [Marvel]. That will not be on a fast track creatively. This is just the deal, now we have to find the creative.”
While the movie-production side of 20th Century Fox has had no problem turning the famous Marvel Comics mutants into a successful film franchise, the television rights to the characters are still owned by Marvel and its parent company, Disney. Any deal giving Fox the right to make an X-Men television series would need the approval of Marvel, a company that’s currently in the midst of producing its own batch of television projects based on characters and concepts introduced in the Marvel cinematic universe.
However, The Hollywood Reporter indicates that talks are already underway with 24 producers Evan Katz and Manny Coto to develop a potential X-Men series, with writers Patrick McKay and JD Payne (who are also working on the script for the next Star Trek movie) attached to pen the pilot episode.
What’s entirely unknown at this point is the focus of the series, which will likely connect with the big-screen X-Men franchise in some form. According to Newman,the 2016-2017 television season is probably the earliest anyone can expect to see the series, though a deal is far from done at this point.
