FOX is leading the charge for new series pick-ups during this month’s Upfronts, where the final fates for on-the-bubble TV shows, along with new series pick-ups for each of the five basic TV networks, are decided. FOX has announced today that, no doubt surprising no one, their first official new series for the 2017-2018 season will be X-Men spin-off show, The Gifted, originally titled simply ‘Gifted‘, with the, “The” placed in front of it to likely avoid confusion with the Fox Entertainment Group’s own recent well-received cinematic drama, Gifted.
The Gifted is considered to be one of the hottest and most anticipated TV pilot pitches for next season, with FOX ordering a put pilot commitment for it back in January, guaranteeing that the pilot would air as a television special if the show wasn’t picked up. The Gifted’s pick-up was virtually guaranteed right from the start however, since it was one of two results from a lengthy negotiation between the Fox Entertainment Group and Marvel, for the television license to the X-Men franchise. Eventually, Fox and Marvel entered a sharing agreement over the X-Men television rights, which resulted in The Gifted for FOX (after another failed X-Men TV pitch for FOX, Hellfire), and the highly acclaimed and strongly-rated Legion for FX, which recently wrapped up a very successful first season. Unlike the more ambiguous Legion, The Gifted has also been explicitly confirmed to take place within the same universe as 20th Century Fox’s live-action X-Men movies.
FOX has released a small teaser video alongside today’s announcement confirming the news of The Gifted’s pick-up to series, with the full trailer for the upcoming show set to debut this coming Monday, May 15th. It’s not explicitly stated when The Gifted will premiere, though unconfirmed early reports suggest that it’s targeting a debut this Fall, not during midseason. The series will be overseen by Burn Notice and APB showrunner, Matt Nix, and is being executive produced by regular X-Men movie director, Bryan Singer (who is also directing the show’s pilot episode), along with regular X-Men movie producers, Simon Kinberg and Lauren Shuler Donner. Marvel Television boss, Jeph Loeb will also be an executive producer, with Marvel Television having some degree of creative input on The Gifted, as was previously the case with FX’s Legion.
The Gifted will join confirmed new seasons for a handful of FOX shows, with FOX already having given advance renewals for the 2017-2018 season to Lucifer, Lethal Weapon, The Simpsons, Bob’s Burgers, Empire, Star and The Mick, along with commissioning a second revival season for The X-Files. Recently, FOX also cancelled freshman baseball drama, Pitch, and has now ended their long-running crime procedural, Bones, after a pre-determined twelfth and final season. The network’s ongoing selection of ‘bubble’ shows, which include The Last Man on Earth, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, New Girl, Son of Zorn and Gotham, among others, will have their fates decided over the next few weeks.
Keep mutating Eggplante for all major news and updates on The Gifted, and other developments for Fox’s live-action X-Men universe.