According to multiple sources, 20th Century Fox is looking to get into the superhero TV game and are in the process of bringing the X-Men from the big screen to the small screen. Bleeding Cool first broke the news, claiming that Fox was currently in “deep development” on a live-action X-Men series.
X-Men: Days of Future Past producer Simon Kinberg once stated that “the serialized format of comic books is better suited for TV,” so the idea of Fox moving forward with a show focusing on the mutants comes as no real surprise. In fact, it was kind of inevitable, especially with both DC and Marvel having several shows currently on air or in active development.
Bleeding Cool’s report was followed up by one from IGN, who heard that the series would be based on Peter David’s X-Factor run, which ran in the 1990s and followed a group of mutants hired by the United States government. The team roster varied over the course of its run, but some staple members included Havok (played by Lucas Till in X-Men: First Class and Days of Future Past), Quicksilver (DOFP‘s Evan Peters), Magneto’s daughter Polaris, Wolfsbane, Multiple Man (played by Eric Dane in X-Men: The Last Stand), Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) and even Sabretooth (played by Liev Schreiber in X-Men Origins: Wolverine). IGN’s sources also claim that Multiple Man, a.k.a. Jamie Madrox, will “definitely” be a part of the series, which is described as “Fringe in the X-Men world.”
Personally, I would love to see a series like this on television, and am quite frankly surprised that it hasn’t happened already. Kinberg recently expressed Fox’s interest in expanding the X-Men universe even further, which includes the upcoming Deadpool spinoff and could possibly include a Fantastic Four crossover. While there’s no word yet on whether or not Fox would tie the TV series in with the cinematic universe on film (an approach DC is taking with their various properties), the option is certainly there, and it’s incredibly intriguing.
Tell us, would you like to see an X-Men TV series focusing on the X-Factor team? What mutants would you like to see on the show? Let us know in the comments section below.