FX’s Legion Focuses on the Core Tenets of X-Men: It’s a Story for Those Who “Are Suppressed or Marginalized”

Marvel and X-Men producer Lauren Shuler Donner has been making the press rounds for FX’s upcoming X-Men spin-off show, Legion, and the question on every reporter’s mind seems to be about whether or not the TV show ties into the X-Men movie universe. Reports have varied on that before now, and the latest from Donner is a denial (via IGN): “No, we’re making it separate. We’re our own world… The cinematic universe will not worry about Legion. They will not worry about these TV worlds at all.”

Considering that the X-Men cinematic timeline is already pretty bungled up, lately, I think it’s for the best that Legion plans to be a standalone story. Since it’s not uncommon for multiple universes to exist in Marvel comic book canon, it would be pretty easy to write off Legion as just another one of those… and that might even lend itself well to the universes intersecting, someday, if the TV and movie execs decide that’s something they’d be into doing.

What’s more compelling for me, though, is that according to Donner, Legion plans to focus its themes on some of the core tenets behind X-Men stories. Even though Legion takes place in a “different world,” it still sounds quintessentially X-Men to me, based on this quote from her about the show:

“The thematic core of X-Men is tolerance. It’s that for those of us who are different in any way–in a big way–whether it’s you’re a minority, you’re a woman, you’re a Muslim, you are suppressed or marginalized; it can go the whole spectrum, but even if you are shy or you feel like an outsider, and X-Men are outsiders. What we always want to say is, “It’s OK to be yourself, and actually it’s a gift to be yourself. Whatever it is that you have, that may be your gift.” I think that’s what we always want to say, and spread it out, so have tolerance for other people who are different also.”

Donner went on to say, “the thrill of doing television versus features is in television you get to focus more on the characters,” which sounds exciting to me, too. Even though the story of Legion‘s central character, David Haller, doesn’t necessarily appeal to me, the idea of a true ensemble cast does appeal to me… particularly for an X-Men story.

One of my disappointments regarding X-Men: Apocalypse was the de-emphasis on the team-based, ensemble vibe, as well as the lack of joy and camaraderie. I summarized the problem in my piece about how the movie needed more Jubilee, and also, how the movie’s deleted scenes revealed a very different story of marginalized mutants forming friendships in spite of the adversity they faced.

It seems like Legion might offer that story, albeit with a completely different cast of characters who are more obscure. But that’s okay–I don’t need my X-Men stories to be packed with well-known characters like Wolverine and Magneto and Professor X. I expect the shadows of those characters will be felt, particularly Xavier’s shadow, since in the comics, David is Xavier’s son. However, according to Donner, this show will not be focusing on David’s famous dad: “We just don’t want to get into the Xavier world, because that’s not what this show is about.”

I’m still hesitant, as I’m sure many of us are, about how Legion will be depicting David’s mutant powers, which seem to manifest as multiple personalities–basically, David’s human doctors think that he’s schizophrenic, not that he has a mutant power. It’s not as though he really has multiple personalities, since it’s a mutation, but that still sounds like a plot-line that could go awry in terms of how it depicts actual disabilities. That said, there hasn’t been enough information out about it yet for me to be certain about how the show will approach that.

Given what I’ve heard so far, though, I’m pretty interested in tuning in… which surprises me, because this is a show about X-Men characters that I know almost nothing about at all. But, hey, Aubrey Plaza is in it, and that alone makes me think that I’ll be finding at least one character in this ensemble cast that I’ll enjoy watching.

(via Coming Soon, image via YouTube screencap)

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