There’s good news out of the TCA press tour – FX is reportedly close to picking up the X-Men spinoff series, Legion. Casting is currently underway for the leading role, sets are being assembled, and there’s already a writers room in place for Legion.

Although Legion follows David Heller, the son of Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men comics, don’t expect any connections to the X-Men movies. FX CEO John Landgraf told the TCA that “[Legion] takes place in a parallel universe. The US government is in early days of being aware of mutants, but not the public. I don’t foresee any characters moving back and forth (between the movies and the series).”

Landgraf was also confident that Legion will get a series order. “I’m pretty optimistic about Legion,” said Landgraf. “The scripts are extraordinary.”

Fargo showrunner Noah Hawley is writing and producing Legion for FX. Within the Marvel Universe, Legion/David Heller is one of the most powerful mutants alive who has multiple personalities, each with their own mutant power.

“What I really like about him is, here’s a character who is schizophrenic on some level, a character struggling with mental illness,” said Hawley in a previous interview with TV Insider. “Is he crazy or does he have these powers? The answer is, kind of both…I’m a big believer that the structure of a story should reflect the content of the story. And so I liked the idea that if you have a character that doesn’t know what’s real and what’s not real, that is also the audience’s journey.”

So far, Fargo’s Rachel Keller is the only announced cast member of Legion. Keller will play the female lead, but no other details about her character have been announced. Given the premise of Legion, she could even be portraying one of Heller’s alternate personalities.

The pilot episode of Legion is expected to begin filming soon.

Do you want to see Legion stand alone, or would you prefer that it tie into the X-Men films? Share your thoughts below!

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HT: Deadline

Image Credit: Marvel Comics