Marvel is working to bring two X-Men-based series to TV. A Hellfire series is in development for Fox, and FX has ordered a Legion pilot, reports Variety. X-Men film director Bryan Singer is attached to both projects as an executive producer.
Hellfire will be set in the 1960s and will center on a special agent along with a secret society known as The Hellfire Club, which has come into conflict with the X-Men of the comic books. Meanwhile, Legion focuses on David Haller, a man who’s thought to be battling mental illness but whose visions may actually be real. Haller also appears in the X-Men series, as an antihero.
Speaking about Hellfire, President of Entertainment at Fox Broadcasting Company, David Madden, said, “These powerful and dynamic characters are complicated and larger-than-life, the pace and visual imagination are unrelenting, and the story takes place during one of the most explosive eras in recent history.” Jonathan Davis, president of creative affairs at 20th Century Fox Television, added that “the action at the center of Hellfire will be dynamic and will satisfy the rabid fans.” Newcomers will find a lot to like too, according to Davis, so Hellfire won’t just be for X-Men addicts.
Singer is teaming up with Lauren Shuler Donner, Simon Kinberg, Evan Katz, Manny Coto, Jim Chory, and Marvel’s Head of TV Jeph Loeb to executive produce the series. Katz and Coto will also be the showrunners, while Patrick McKay and JD Payne are co-writing the Hellfire script. In January, Marvel confirmed an X-Men-based TV series and there were reports that Katz, Coto, McKay and Payne would all be involved. At the time, Gary Newman, Fox Entertainment’s chairman, shared that the series likely wouldn’t start airing until the 2016-2017 television season.
Legion, which is set to be written by Fargo creator Noah Hawley, is said to be “ambitious,” according to Nick Grad, co-president of original programming at FX Networks and FX Productions. Hawley is also set to executive produce alongside Singer, Shuler Donner, Kinberg, Loeb, Chory, and John Cameron.
