An X-Men spinoff TV show starring Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey's Matthew Crawley) with the showrunner of Fargo calling the shots behind the scenes? Shut up and take our money!
Noah Hawley, the man who masterfully transferred the Coen Bros. 1996 classic to the small screen and made it a classic in it's own right will next look to bring the X-Men universe to TV land. Though he'll technically be doing it without any actual X-Men as he labelled the show a 'fable'.
"It’s a little more of a fable in my mind. If you were to say, ‘Where is it, and when is it?’, it’s not exactly clear, I think. And a lot of it is because he’s not exactly clear. It’s the world as perceived subjectively on some level. The recent X-Men movies, starting with First Class, are rooted in a time period and a world and playing with history in interesting ways. This isn’t doing that.”
Ok so while he's not explicitly saying we won't see any familiar characters popping up, don't expect to see Professor X and co. to make a cameo appearance just yet.
The show has received a full series order and should be premiering in January 2017. Dan Stevens plays the lead character David Haller, a schizophrenic who realises that the voices in his head may actually exist.
Hawley described the essence of what the show's story will be about: "I want to explore, on some level, the reality of what it’s like to have those abilities in a more existential way. So it’s not, ‘You have these powers; now run!’ More in the idea that you go through your life with this identity as a crazy person, and then someone comes along and says, ‘No, actually, you’re perfectly sane, and have the abilities you have,’ which sounds like what a crazy person’s thoughts would be."
Stevens will be joined on the show by Aubrey Plaza, Bill Irwin and Jean Smart.
