'Legion' Season 1 News: Upcoming FX Series Takes Place In 'Parallel Universe;' Will Debut In 2016

By Jackie Villegas, Christian Post Contributor Saturday, January 23, 2016

"Legion," the forthcoming Marvel TV series, centers on David Haller, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia but realizes, after an encounter with a fellow psychiatric patient, that the voices and visions he hears and sees are, in fact, real. Fans of the Marvel Comics know that Haller is a mutant and that he is the son of the X-Men's Professor Charles Xavier. Professor X is played by actors Patrick Stewart and James McAvoy in the "X-Men" films.

Despite Haller's connection to the X-Men, FX Network President and General Manager John Landgraf says that fans probably won't be seeing Stewart or McAvoy in the series. "It's not in the continuity of those films in the sense that the current X-Men films take place in a universe where everybody on planet earth is aware of the existence of mutants," the FX boss told the press at last week's Television Critics Association's press tour.

"The series 'Legion' takes place in a parallel universe in which the U.S. Government is in the early days of being aware that something called mutants exist, but the public does not," he explained. "I wouldn't foresee characters moving back and forth because they really are parallel universes."

"Legion" is being developed by Noah Hawley ("Fargo"), who will serve as the show's executive producer along with Bryan Singer ("X-Men: Days of Future Past"), Lauren Shuler Donner ("X-Men: Days of Future Past"), Jeph Loeb ("Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D."), John Cameron ("Fargo"), and Jim Chory ("Marvel's Daredevil").

Though the series is yet to be officially ordered, Entertainment Weekly reports that according to Landgraf, the series is now "in active prep," with the production crew building sets and the writing staff churning out the first season.

The first season of "Legion" will consist of 10 episodes, IGN reports.

"Legion" is expected to air sometime this year.