Showrunner Noah Hawley Describes LEGION As A Dramatic Departure From Marvel TV

If the promotional material is anything to go by, FX's Legion is set to be a vastly different take on the live-action X-Men universe. Comic book fans know that the connection the the broader world of the X-Men lies in David Haller (Dan Stevens), the son of Charles Xavier. However, the show hasn't exactly gone out of its way to acknowledge that connection, something that showrunner Noah Hawley seems to be doing purposefully.

In an interview with EW, Hawley revealed that he had the head of Marvel TV, Jeph Loeb, offer him some help during production, despite the show not fitting in with the other programs that are tied to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. "Obviously, this show is a dramatic departure from [Marvel's] other shows. They’re controlling a roll-out of a series of characters on Netflix that are interconnected. So there’s a game-plan there for all of those pieces. This is a satellite that they didn’t generate and wasn’t trying to fit in and was something the network wanted. So [Marvel TV chief] Jeph Loeb offered me guidance. He has an objective eye on the fan base and how these stories tend to be received and gave me things to think about, either incorporating characters from the comic or creating them on my own — which I tended to do more than not. It was a helpful gauge. This is not a world that I’m used to telling stories in."

Speaking of characters, Hawley offered some insight on the mutant abilities we will witness in the show, and from the sounds of it, most of them will involve mind-tampering. "David has psychic abilities — telepathy and telekinesis among other things. He’s an omega mutant, he’s very powerful. Syd who’s played by Rachel Keller doesn’t like to be touched. If she touches your skin she trades places with you, her mind goes into your body and the other way around. We have an actor, Jeremie Harris, who plays a character named Ptonomy. He’s a memory artist. He remembers everything, and has the ability to take people back into their own memories, and helps David get into his mind. And there are other characters with other powers, but those are the main ones."

The question on everyone's mind, of course, is how - or even if - the show plans to connect to the continuity-riddled X-Men films. According to Hawley, fans shouldn't hold their breath for any sort of crossover until he feels that connection is earned through the story.  "I’m firm believer the show has to stand on its own two feet. For a crossover to be possible we have to earn that right through the quality of our storytelling and hopefully our popularity. David’s origin story hasn’t changed, so we haven’t changed that connection to the X-Men universe."

Legion, based on the Marvel Comics by Chris Claremont and Bill Sienkiewicz, is the story of David Haller (Dan Stevens) – a troubled young man who may be more than human.

Diagnosed as schizophrenic as a child, David has been in and out of psychiatric hospitals for years. Now in his early 30s and institutionalized once again, David loses himself in the rhythm of the structured regimen of life in the hospital: breakfast, lunch, dinner, therapy, medications, sleep. David spends the rest of his time in companionable silence alongside his chatterbox friend Lenny (Aubrey Plaza), a fellow patient whose life-long drug and alcohol addiction has done nothing to quell her boundless optimism that her luck is about to change. The pleasant numbness of David’s routine is completely upended with the arrival of a beautiful and troubled new patient named Syd (Rachel Keller). Inexplicably drawn to one another, David and Syd share a startling encounter, after which he must confront the shocking possibility that the voices he hears and the visions he sees are the result of him being a mutant.

A haunted man, David escapes from the hospital and seeks shelter with his sister Amy (Katie Aselton). But Amy’s concern for her brother is trumped by her desire to protect the picture perfect suburban life she’s built for herself. Eventually, Syd guides David to Melanie Bird (Jean Smart), a nurturing but demanding therapist with a sharp mind and unconventional methods. She and her team of specialists – Ptonomy (Jeremie Harris), Kerry (Amber Midthunder) and Cary (Bill Irwin) – open David’s eyes to an extraordinary new world of possibilities.