Fox is already home to Gotham, but the network is hoping to bring its sibling movie studio’s own comic franchise to the small screen. The X-Men could be on television soon.
During the TCA press tour today, Fox TV Group chairman and CEO Dana Walden told The Hollywood Reporter that the network is talking with Marvel. She said the deal isn’t done, “but it’s something we’re definitely pursuing.”
THR reports that the series will be written by Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne (Star Trek Beyond). It will be “created” by McKay, Payne and showrunners Evan Katz (24) and Manny Coto.
20th Century Fox’s X-Men franchise is easily the most successful series of Marvel movies not released by Marvel Studios itself. Three more films in the franchise are in the works: next year’s X-Men: Apocalypse, a 2017 Wolverine solo movie and Channing Tatum’s Gambit movie.
While Fox’s sibling studio does own the film rights to the Marvel mutant family, Marvel still has to agree to give the network TV rights.
It's obviously too early to say if the series will be linked to the films or if any characters in the films will appear in the series. But there are plenty of mutants in the comics that the writers could use.
Fox is currently the home of Gotham, which is based on DC’s Batman characters and produced by Warner Bros. TV. The network also has Minority Report and Sleepy Hollow, which are also sci-fi/fantasy shows.
photo by Alan Markfield/20th Century Fox