Here's the trailer for the new X-Men TV show Gifted:
Bryan Singer directed the pilot, and Burn Notice's Matt Nix is serving as showrunner. Unlike Legion, this show connected to the film universe, but that continuity is all kinds of fucked. So, Gifted is going to tiptoe around that as much as possible, as per Nix's interview with THR:
In a general way, [ Gifted] acknowledges that events like the events that have happened in movies have happened. But it's not up to date. It's still evolving, so we'll see how much that comes in. It's certainly, 'Since this happened in X-Men: Apocalypse, all of these things are happening,' which I think is cool, but they've already done that. It's designed to sidestep questions like, 'Where is Wolverine?' It exists in a world where those questions are answered without needing to name a lot of names or spend a lot of time dwelling on that issue.
Here's a run-down of all upcoming X-Men films or TV shows:
MOVIESNew Mutants (4/13/18) - Josh Boone's X-Men: The Next Generation recently cast Maisie Williams ( Game of Thrones) and Anya Taylor-Joy ( The Witch, Split) to play Wolfsbane and Magik respectively. Filming is due to start in July. Casting is currently underway for the rest of the characters, and they are said to be "making serious efforts to find ethnically appropriate actors, conducting wide searches for a Native American to play Moonstar and a South American for Sunspot." Of course, with Williams' casting the X-Men universe now has both of the Stark sisters in tow. More on Sophie Turner in a minute.
Deadpool 2 (6/1/18) - Cable has been cast (Josh Brolin, for some reason). So has Domino ( Atlanta's Zazie Beetz). John Wick co-director David Leitch is stepping in for Tim Miller. Filming should start next month. So, don't grab your chimichangas just yet. We're still a year away from seeing this, probably half a year away from a trailer.
Dark Phoenix (11/2/18) - This is the "we signed up those new Apocalypse actors to multi-picture contracts, and we're damn well going to keep them to that" movie. Even though 2018 will already bring a fresh-faced spin-off ( New Mutants) and the continuation of a foul-mouthed, box office smash spin-off ( Deadpool 2), Fox still insists upon continuing forward with a direct Apocalypse sequel, following through with the Dark Phoenix story hinted at during Jean Grey's defeat of that movie's titular villain.
However, there's no director (longtime franchise producer/writer Simon Kinberg is rumored to be in the running). There's likely no more involvement from Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, Nicholas Hoult or James McAvoy, although the latter has expressed a willingness to return in a reduced, mentor-like role. We don't even know if there is a script yet. But, dangit, Sophie Turner is going to get her chance to play out a better version of the Dark Phoenix saga than Famke Jansen because the world needs yet another film directly refuting and apologizing for X-Men: The Last Stand.
Dark Phoenix will probably get made, but don't count on it actually hitting that release date, not with Disney's new Mulan also slated for 11/2/18 and WB's own Jungle Book movie and Sony's The Girl in the Spider's Web reboot each due a week earlier.
Possibly in development: Gambit, A Logan follow-up focused on X-23, X-Force
TV SHOWSDeadpool: The Animated Series ( 10 episode season set to premiere on FX in 2018) - No word on voice cast, but the series is being co-created by Donald Glover and his brother Stephen, an Atlanta staff writer.
Gifted ( 10-13-episode season will air on Monday nights in the Fall after Lucifer) - At this point in the X-Men franchise life cycle you can't simply trot out yet another mutants-as-metaphor-for-ostracized-other to make your dramatic point. So, it's not enough for Gifted to tackle the hot button issue of bullying by ripping off a shower-torture scene from Sense8. There has to be more here than simply a boy's powers manifesting while being tortured under scolding hot water. So, there's a Wonder Twins bonus of him having an older sister who can help him focus his powers, and recognized genre actor parents (Stephen Moyer, Amy Acker) who take them on the run, with Moyer playing a Noah Bennet "I used to hunt people like you, but now that it's spread to my kids I'm all turned around on the issue" type. Because, hey, we haven't quite seen that before in one of these X-Men movies/shows. The result has the looks of a fairly solid broadcast TV comic book show, nowhere near as inventive as Legion, of course, but likely capable of a multi-year Agents of Shield-like run.
Legion (Season 2 due in early 2018) - Noah Hawley's ever so busy, but he promises Legion season 2 will be longer (10 episodes instead of 8) and he's trying his best to have it ready for early 2018, roughly around the same time the first season premiered. Frankly, they could just make 10 episodes of Aubrey Plaza and Jermaine Celment's characters on a road trip together, and it would probably be fairly amazing.
Of everything listed above, what are you most excited about? Least? Let me know in the comments.
