Marvel’s Legion TV Series Recruits Dan Stevens, Aubrey Plaza And More
Last year, Marvel and Fox had put aside their differences and banded together to create two spin-off’s based on the X-Men franchise (owned by Fox). The first, Legion, has found its cast in the form of Downton Abbey’s Dan Stevens and Parks and Recreation’s Aubrey Plaza. They’re set to star in the show’s pilot alongside Jean Smart and Rachel Keller.
Legion, which is adapted from the Marvel character who first appeared in New Mutants in 1985, focuses on David Heller (Stevens), a man who’s long dealt with a mental illness and finds himself in an out of psychiatric hospitals. But an encounter with another patient leads him to believe that the voices and visions in his head are more than imaginary and are a part of his mutant abilities. Plaza stars as Lenny, his friend who battles drug and alcohol addiction but manages to keep an optimism about her. Smart plays Melanie, David’s therapist while Keller plays Syd, a spiky woman with a belief in happily ever after.
Noah Hawley (Fargo) wrote the pilot and is producing the show alongside the X-Men team Bryan Singer, Lauren Shuler Donner and Simon Kinberg. Legion up for a potential series at US cable channel FX and its pilot will shoot in March. The second X-Men spin-off in development will be called Hellfire.
