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What to Expect From LEGION Season Two

What to Expect From LEGION Season Two

Warning: This post contains major, major Legion spoilers! Only read if you’re up to date.

By all accounts, Legion had a pretty successful opening, enough so that FX greenlit the series for another season, 

which premieres April 3, 2018*. But if you’ve seen any amount of those first eight episodes, you know that the possibilities for what that season could be like are practically endless. Heck, showrunner Noah Hawley is still working out the details himself!

However, Hawley was kind enough to fill us in on as much as he could during a recent press conference call, and what he shared is sure to get you hype for season two. Let’s start with the nitty-gritty:

When are we going to get more Legion, and how much?

LEGION -- "Chapter 3" – Season 1, Episode 3 (Airs Wednesday, February 22, 10:00 pm/ep) -- Pictured: Dan Stevens as David Haller. CR: Michelle Faye/FX
News outlets were abuzz when it was revealed that Legion would not return to TV until 2018—but you probably won’t have to wait that long, all things considered. Hopefully. “Our goal is to hit the same airdate next year, so all that means is a lot more work for me in the immediate future as I finish up the year,” Hawley said. “But I’ve got nobody to blame but myself.”

There’ll also be more of Legion going forward; instead of eight episodes, Hawley’s goal is to do ten next year, which will give him more time to flesh out the rest of the characters in David’s world. How many seasons the show will run for, however, is anybody’s guess. “I sort of feel like I have a story that I want to tell, but I haven’t gamed out on an episodic basis how long that is yet,” he admitted. “I think I’ll have a better sense at the end of the second year how many more years there are to go then I do right now.”

Most importantly, don’t expect the next season, or any other future season to feel exactly the same as this one “Even though the show isn’t an anthology like Fargo, each season has a self-containedness to it and an identity to it. But I think it’s a little too early to talk about what that identity might be,” he said.

How’s the new filming location going to change the show?

In a sort of reverse Supergirl situation, it’s also been reported that the show will begin filming in Los Angeles rather than Vancouver, where the first season was shot. “It’ll make my life easier, in terms of being able to be involved with the show more directly on a day-to-day basis,” Hawley admitted.

“This season started with this idea that every time you are oriented and knew where you were, the show shifted, either from a psychiatric institution to an interrogation room to a swimming pool and out into a war zone in that first hour,” he continued. “There’s a degree to which I think the show needs to continue to evolve, and I’m excited to try to look at southern California in a way we haven’t really looked at it before.”

Will the Shadow King return?

LEGION -- "Chapter 5" – Season 1, Episode 5 (Airs Wednesday, March 8, 10:00 pm/ep) -- Pictured: Aubrey Plaza as Lenny "Cornflakes" Busker. CR: Michelle Faye/FX

Don’t worry, gang; Aubrey Plaza is definitely coming back for more hijinks. “I think we’ve now created a villain for David that is worthy of building a whole story around. The backstory of this thing and their relationship and their history is now so nuanced and rich that it makes for a potential showdown that’s literally invested us as an audience, as opposed to doing a villain of the year approach. I don’t know how long that story will sustain different permutations of it, but I do think it’s a really fascinating set-up to follow.” Hawley said.

Which also means good news for Jemaine Clement, whose body the Shadow King is currently inhabiting at the end of the season. “It does make him a rather critical to our story,” he revealed. “I’ve spoken to Jermaine and he’s excited to come back, so I think we’ll see a lot of him going forward, which makes me very happy.”

What about David’s real dad?

X-Men-First-CLass-Professor-Xavier-James-McAvoy1

The biggest question that fans have, of course, revolves around one comic book character in particular: Professor X, who we know via context clues (and from their relationship in the comics) is David’s biological father. Hawley hasn’t quite worked out the details of how that relationship will work going forward, but rest assured that David is still going to have a lot of questions about his identity in the future.

“I think any child, any person who learns that they were adopted is gonna have those questions and want to seek out those birth parents,” he said. “I think that’s a very natural story. Certainly where we left David at the end of the first year, that can’t be his first priority, but in terms of coming to understand who he is and what his purpose is on this world, I think that’s definitely something we’re gonna approach.”

Whether or not Professor X will actually appear in person, however, is a different matter altogether. “It’s a creative conversation but it’s also a sort of corporate conversation on some level, in terms of the movie studio and their relationship to the X-Men and the characters that they want in the movies and want to protect, potentially.” (Sorry, Dan Stevens, guess that means Bishop isn’t coming to the show, either). “Were we to want Professor X on the show or even Patrick Stewart on the show or James McAvoy, one of those actors, It’s a conversation both with the actor and with the studio. I haven’t really dived into that quandary yet, but I certainly need to start thinking about it.”

Noah should probably know that Dan did the ask already for him:

But what about other comic book characters who aren’t in the movies?

“As we do with Fargo, I think fans who are really familiar with that world appreciate certain connections, and a sense of being rewarded for knowing the story so well,” Hawley admitted. “At the same time, my goal was always to use this character as a way to have a conversation and tell a story that was my story, that was interesting to me, and to try to get at the heart of what this character is, and what this journey is for him, without literally enacting issues of the comic book. So I don’t think you’ll see the show suddenly look to the comics for storylines, but you may see ideas or characters or images that are familiar to you.”

Is David… okay now?

LEGION -- "Chapter 3" – Season 1, Episode 3 (Airs Wednesday, February 22, 10:00 pm/ep) -- Pictured: Dan Stevens as David Haller. CR: Michelle Faye/FX

Speaking of which, now that David’s finally free of the Shadow King for the first time in his life, he’s going to be way more mentally stable, right? … Right? Wrong.

“It’s going to very odd for him to have more clarity, to be alone in his own mind, to have some power to keep those voices out and to keep those visions out. It means he’s suddenly isolated in a way that seems healthy but may have unintended consequences.” Hawley said. “He’s never interacted with the world in this solitary way before, and he has an inherent distrust of reality because it keeps shifting on him. I don’t think he’s gonna wake up tomorrow and just be what you and i would call normal.”

Well, of course not—he did just get kidnapped by a robot eyeball in that end credit sequence. It doesn’t matter how well-adjusted you are, that kind of thing will definitely mess you up.

What do you want to see in Legion season two? Let us know in the comments!

*Updated Tuesday, February 6, 2018 to reflect the season two premiere date.

Images: FX Networks, Twentieth Century Fox

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