Thomas Roach on whether an X-Men TV series is a good idea….
There has recently been a rumour that Fox is developing an X-Men TV series, which makes sense as the film franchise is doing very well. As Fox owns the rights to the comic book characters the studio will want to maximise their usage in order to generate a lot of money. It is no secret that films based on comic books do very well at the box office and the latest shows based on comic books seem to have a high numbers of viewers too. However would an X-Men show be any good?
The medium of television has become more and more popular lately, with better shows being produced and such a wide range of varied programmes over a range of networks available. Television can be more engaging that film as viewers will tune in week after week to check out a show. Whereas a film will only last a couple of hours a series can last up to twenty or so hours, giving viewers a more in depth story and time to get to know the characters. X-Men usually follows a large team. In the films only a few of the characters are at the forefront, and many of the supporting characters get ignored completely. By having X-Men on television we could get to know characters a lot more, thus expanding the X-Men universe.
DC has several of its own shows based on their comics, such as Arrow, The Flash, Gotham and Constantine, although these are not connected to the DC movie universe. So this begs the question: does the X-Men TV series need to be connected to the films? Not necessarily. Having it connected to the films means that the style and story needs to be in line with to the films. But if the series was standalone, it would allow new characters to be explored, as well as new versions of existing characters.
Frankly I doubt actors like James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender would want to appear in a TV series. To be blunt, a TV series that is a spin off from the film franchise is beneath actors of their calibre. Even on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. which is connected the A-list stars don’t turn up (Samuel L. Jackson cameoed, but frankly people would rather see Robert Downey Jr. or Chris Evans reprise their roles on the show, which is highly unlikely). As Fox probably wont be able to get the actors from the films to appear in a series, it may need to be separate. Even just cameos from the movie stars would be pushing it.
Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn’t always deliver and has left some fans feeling let down. Not everyone, but some. This may be because there are no real superpowers in the show. There are, but not in the same way we see them in the films. An X-Men series would probably be more interesting as we would get to see super powered humans. The problem with having a show with superpowered characters is that the special effects will not be perfect. Television shows have much smaller budgets than that of their film counterparts. You can easily see the difference in the special effects in Thor: The Dark World compared to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. for example.
The show Heroes proved to be very popular at first until the stories started to go down hill after each season. However the show maintained its style and ‘realism’ which did carry it through to its fourth season, but Heroes lacked the comic book elements that are included in so many of the films which make them popular. X-Men is a pretty serious film franchise in my opinion. I wouldn’t say the stories and issues addressed in the films are light. X-Men deals sub textually with racism and discrimination so these serious issues should be respected in the show. However fans will still want the X-Men style, which is slightly more comical. As long as it is in similar style to the films then it will work.
Overall it is too hard to tell yet if an X-Men TV series would be any good. It could go either way, but it seems that shows based on comic books are rather mixed. As long as the stories are good and the showrunners don’t sacrifice that for spectacle then it should be fine. With all of these comic book adaptations heading to the small screen it would make perfect sense to do a series based on the X-Men. I for one would rather it not be connected to the film franchise, but Fox may want to interlink them a great deal. I’m sure they can make it work either way. If this does go ahead though I just hope they don’t screw it up…
How do you feel about a possible X-Men TV series? Let us know your thoughts…
Thomas Roach
Originally published October 11, 2014. Updated April 13, 2018.
