X-Men spin-off ‘Legion’ adds ‘Fargo’ star Rachel Keller as lead
Fox’s X-Men franchise will expand to the small screen with a TV spin-off called Legion and now appears to have added a lead actress.
Deadline reports that Fargo star Rachel Keller has been the first cast in FX’s television spin-off of the X-Men franchise, Legion. Her specific character is being kept under wraps for the time being, but she is described as “a scrappy, optimistic woman.”
The outlet also notes that her mutant powers may have something to do with physical touch.
Legion is the first of two planned X-Men TV series and will tell the story of David Haller. Since he was a teenager, David has struggled with mental illness. Diagnosed as schizophrenic, David has been in and out of psychiatric hospitals for years. But after a strange encounter with a fellow patient, he’s confronted with the possibility that the voices he hears and the visions he sees might be real. Comic book fans know Haller as the schizophrenic son of Charles Xavier.
Hawley (Fargo, Bones) will write the Legion pilot and serve as an Executive Producer along with Lauren Shuler Donner (X-Men: Days of Future Past, The Wolverine), Bryan Singer (X-Men: Days of Future Past, Superman Returns), Simon Kinberg (X-Men: Days of Future Past, The Martian), Jeph Loeb (Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Marvel’s Daredevil), Jim Chory (Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Marvel’s Daredevil) and John Cameron (Fargo, The Big Lebowski).
The pilot for Legion will be produced by FX Productions and Marvel Television, with FXP handling the physical production.