FX has released a new promo for its upcoming X-Men spinoff TV show Legion. The video is pretty slick, showing off main character David Haller, who looks to be troubled yet very powerful.
One person says in the video, "He believes he's mentally ill, but he may be the most powerful mutant we've ever encountered." Aubrey Plaza's character offers this take to Haller, "They're coming, and they're going to kill you." Take a look at the video below.
Legion is the result of a partnership between Marvel and Fox. It is being overseen by Fargo showrunner Noah Hawley. The show premieres in February 2017.
FX has also released an official synopsis. "Legion introduces the story of David Haller: Since he was a teenager, David has struggled with mental illness," reads a line from the description. "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."
In an interview with Vanity Fair, Hawley spoke about the approach he was taking to Legion. "I always feel like the structure of a story should reflect the content of the story," he explained. "If the story, as in this case, is about a guy who is either schizophrenic or he has these abilities, i.e., he doesn't know what's real and what's not real, then the audience should have the same experience.
"[There will be] a surreal or dreamlike quality where it's not just about running and kicking. There's, whatever, 9,000 superhero stories right now. They've got all the running and kicking covered. I think my goal with this is to do something whimsical and imaginative and unexpected. Not just because I want to do something different, but because it feels like the right way to tell this story."
The character of Legion first appeared in a 1985 issue of The New Mutants. The show will be the first time that Marvel has been directly involved with the X-Men onscreen--while Fox are the sole producers of the X-Men films and spinoffs such as Wolverine and Deadpool, Marvel have retained the TV rights to the properties.