All systems go for Fox's new X-Men TV series.
Following in the successful footsteps of Marvel Studios TV series such as Agents of SHIELD, as well as Netflix's Jessica Jones, Daredevil and Luke Cage, Fox is set to put its own take on the mutant universe in the small screen. The show will be helmed by main writer Matt Nix, best known for creating the spy action series Burn Notice. He will also serve as the showrunner.
Fox ordered the pilot order to create the yet-untitled show, which will be a live-action drama. As first reported by Hollywood Reporter, the new show will be about "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."
Nix, a confessed X-Men fan, will also serve as the show's executive producer, alongside franchise veterans Lauren Shuler Donner, Bryan Singer and Simon Kinberg. According to Nix, the new series will be connected to the X-Men universe. "A fan of the movies but also the comics would not be disoriented at all as to where this fits in the mythology," he said.
But the movie will not necessarily be in-line with the movies. "I'm not slavishly fitting them into a particular slot. But at the same time, if you like the world of the movies, there are definite nods to the movies. It exists in the same general universe," he added.
"I owe something to my 10-year-old self right now, and I need to respect that, and I need for that kid who is obsessively reading comic books, I need there to be something rewarding, where they don't feel that they wasted their time and they know what this is," he said.
This will not be the first time that Fox tried its hand on the popular comic book franchise. Fox also produced Legion, set to air on February 8, 2017. Fox's movie studio counterpart 20th Century Fox owns the rights to the X-Men film franchise.
Marvel owns the copyright for X-Men. Together with different studios, it has released several film franchises as part of its Marvel Cinematic Universe such as The Avengers, Thor, Ant-Man, Iron Man, and Guardians of the Galaxy. Several movies are currently lined up from 2017 to 2019.
