Trying to lock down a bulletproof timeline for the X-Men film franchise is the type of thing that can drive a person insane. The long-running series, which contains alternate timelines, time travel, multiple iterations of the same character, and “origin” stories of dubious continuity, plays fast and loose with canon. So, perhaps it’s no surprise that the upcoming TV show set in the X-Men universe, The Gifted, is being pretty blasé about continuity.
Screen Rant spoke with Hutch Parker, a producer behind many X-Men movies, including Logan and Days of Future Past, and asked about The Gifted’s continuity status. Although Parker doesn’t have any sort of official role or title on the Fox series, he still knows his X-Men — and he definitely knows what the movies are up to. So, as for The Gifted?
“They’re more of their own thing,” Parker told Screen Rant. He continued:
I think they’re designed really to, again, part of what I think has always been compelling about the X-Men Universe to me is, it is about individuals grappling with the degrees and ways in which they’re different from the society in which they live. That as an idea allows you, you can follow any one of countless characters in the universe and have a completely idiosyncratic experience, right? A completely unique story. I think what’s great about what they’ve been doing in TV is they’re finding those nooks and crannies and characters and new articulations or expressions of those issues and exploring them in a series format. So without being specifically tied, they’re another way in which the [X-Men] Universe is getting expanded.
So, there you have it. The Gifted isn’t “specifically tied” to the movies, but it’ll probably borrow from them whenever it suits the show. So, it’s like Legion.
The Gifted doesn’t have an exact premiere date yet, but expect it in 2017.
