Despite being a lifelong fan of the X-Men, I must confess that I had some reservations in anticipation of The Gifted. To put it mildly, I wondered if such an endeavor could be capably handled on a major network, especially considering that its roster was made up of mostly D-list characters. Thankfully, my worries were put to bed as Bryan Singer, Matt Nix and the rest of the crew proved that this franchise has so much depth that it makes failure difficult.
Delightfully, those “D-list characters” that I alluded to were given ample chance to shine, thus giving me incentive to tune in each week, even if the main event-level mutants were absent. Actually, we were given reason for their not being present in the form of “7/15,” which was said to be a tragedy similar to that of 9/11.
But, so far, the major details surrounding that grim day remain shrouded in mystery. As it turns out, showrunner Matt Nix may give us some answers in season 2 though, which he teased in a recent discussion with TV Line:
“I would definitely like to explore 7/15 in more detail. What exactly happened there is certainly one of the central questions of the series.”
Now, one could say that not much elaboration is needed, drawing a parallel to a time before Supergirl introduced its own version of Superman. After all, we all know the story of Big Blue, but curiosity made us wonder what that Superman was like. And, likewise, I want to learn more about these X-Men.
Nix continued by saying that if the answers come soon enough, they won’t be contained to just one episode:
“It’s a bigger deal than that, linked as it is to the disappearance of the X-Men and the Brotherhood, the creation of the Mutant Underground and the attempted rebuilding of the Hellfire Club…. It’s kind of at the center of everything we’re doing.”
Knowing how Fox loves pulling the plug on TV series, let’s hope we get to learn the truth before it’s too late. Urgency aside, you have to admit that it’d give viewers a reason to keep watching The Gifted throughout its sophomore year.