With the X-men movie franchise in a state of flux after X-Men: Apocalypse, Marvel and Fox are looking to expand it in any way they can. And their next big move is to the small screen with two developing projects, one centering on the villainous cabal known as the Hellfire Club, and another on Charles Xavier's psychotic son, Legion.
Both projects are potentially interesting but the key thing is that it brings Marvel and Fox closer into one another's orbit. Marvel may own the characters, but Fox has their film and TV rights. This could be a first step towards maybe, possibly, crossing over the X-Men with Marvel's Avengers characters.
Marvel and Fox TV are working on Hellfire, a 1960s-set series centering on the clandestine organization of elitists seen briefly in X-Men: First Class. J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay (Star Trek Beyond) will write the pilot for the series which follows an unnamed agent who must infiltrate the group to stop a super-powered woman with plans to take over the world.Next up is Legion, which is being developed by writer/producer Noah Hawley (Fargo) for Fox's FX network. Legion is the code name of Charles Xavier's son, David Haller, a schizophrenic mutant with alpha-level powers that surpass his father's. David's various personalities were what controlled his powers, and at some point he begins to accept them as real. As a prelude to the epic Age of Apocalypse storyline, David merged his personalities and grew to be immensely powerful. Going back in time to try and help his father's dream of peaceful coexistence, he accidentally killed Xavier and caused an apocalyptic timeline to occur.
Interestingly, Bryan Singer is on board Legion as a producer, meaning there could be some shared continuity with the X-Men movies. Also on board are Fox producer Lauren Schuler Donner and Marvel's Jeph Loeb, so yep, these studios are starting to work together in a major way.
