Last year there were rumors that Fox was looking to develop a new television series starring the world’s most famous mutants, the X-Men. It was hard to gauge at the time if the rumblings were simply executives brainstorming, or if it was the exhilaration of the success of X-Men: Days of the Future, truly opening new opportunities. Well it seems like where there is smoke, there is something burning.
THR reported this morning that Patrick McKay and JD Payne, are writing the script for a new series for the network. The series will be produced by Evan Katz and Manny Coto, who are both well-versed in how to make a hit action series for Fox, after their gargantuan success with 24. The X-Men series would probably debut in 2016, however the deal is only in the preliminary stages and far from done. THR explains:
Fox studio counterpart 20th Century Fox owns the rights to the film franchise (with seven features already released based on X-Men characters). While conversations to bring the franchise to the small screen are under way, sources indicate a deal is far from complete with Marvel — which owns the comic rights — still having to sign off on the deal. The comic book powerhouse is based at Disney, with ABC shows including Agents of SHIELD and Agent Carter on the network and five upcoming straight-to-series programs in the works there. Marvel would have to sign off on the deal.
This will be a huge public test for Marvel. Recently Marvel ended their long-running Fantastic Four comic book series. Many have speculated that it was Marvel making a statement about the Fantastic Four movie franchise which Fox owns. There has been huge concerns from the comic book community about the changes being made to the newest reboot of the classic Marvel title. Many thought by Marvel pulling the plug on the source material, it would eventually force Fox to sell the rights back. Will Marvel stick their feet firmly in the sand or will they be gracious to Fox? If they allow them to produce the series, it would result in another superhero show to compete with Agents of SHIELD and whatever new shows Marvel has on by then. The prospect of an X-Men/Gotham night may be a future powerhouse that Marvel wouldn’t want to face. But wouldn’t it be cool?
The argument can always be made that the more quality shows that are on TV is better for everyone. The interesting thing about putting the X-Men on television is that the roster of characters to base the series around is enormous. It is yet to be seen if the series would be a true spinoff from the feature franchise or if it will have alternate TV versions of characters. DC/WB has already begun differentiating themselves from Marvel by not connecting everything and having characters such as the Flash, appear on television as Grant Gustin and on film as Ezra Miller.
Speaking of fast guys, there was whispers last year that the series would feature Quicksilver. The assumption was that they would try to lure TV veteran Evan Peters (American Horror Story) back to the role that he made iconic last summer. However those were simply rumors. Featuring Quicksilver has a lot of potential character drama due to his…intense father Magneto. However it doesn’t seem to be a wise move to base the series around him. Simply because of the scrutiny the character would have to endure due to The Flash’s success, Avengers: Age of Ultron’s version of Quicksilver, and he would be compared against his own previous appearances on the big screen. In other word’s, it would be hard to expect another kitchen scene from Days of Future Past on a TV budget.
The fact that there are real negotiations happening between Fox and Marvel is a good sign. We will be sure to bring you the latest on this as news breaks. Does an X-Men series excite you? What characters would you like to see featured and would you want it connected to the movies? Let us know on the comment boards, , , and !
Source: THR