UPDATE: Once More Unto the X-Men for Director Bryan Singer

The as yet untitled Fox X-Men TV series does not have a release date or production start date.
Just a day after officially announcing they’d ordered the pilot for the upcoming X-Men TV series from Matt Nix, THR is reporting that Fox has brought on X-Pert Bryan Singer to direct the pilot. Singer launched the X-Men film franchise for Fox, and then directed X2, X-Men: Days of the Future Past and X-Men: Apocalypse as well, so he’s definitely familiar with the material. And Singer is undeniably talented. But particularly in the case of the last two movies, I feel like he’s getting a little weary of the franchise, and needs a break from the X-World.
Still, he’s being paired with the inventive Matt Nix as the writer and showrunner, and he’s working on an adaptation of 20,000 Leagues in the meantime, so hopefully he’ll have his batteries recharged by the time production on the pilot moves forward.
UPDATE 1-24-17: Fox Officially Orders the Unnamed X-Men Drama to Pilot
Turns out Matt Nix wasn’t kidding when he said that the official pick up for his as yet unnamed Fox X-Men TV series would happen soon. According to THR, Fox has now officially given the series a formal pilot order.
There’s no word yet on when the series may move into production, but this is a big step for Fox, who has been working on an X-Men series for a while now.
UPDATE 1-19-17: Would You Like Your X-Men With a Side of Sentinels?
The folks over at IGN did another sit-down, this time with Lauren Shuler Donner to discuss Legion. However, in the midst of the Legion discussion, Donner dropped a very interesting bit about Mat Nix’s upcoming X-Men  TV series. This came as part of a discussion about how while the Nix series will be related to the movie universe, Legion won’t:
“Matt’s is much more a part of just the world in terms of there are mutants, mutants are hated and there are Sentinels — though very different from what we’ve seen before. You feel like you’re here in the X-Men world. With Legion, we’re our own universe.”
If I could play that record drop/scratch noise, I would. Wha, wha, WHAT? Sentinels? Be still, my heart. I’m already interested with Nix at the helm, but now we get Sentinels (even if they are “very different” from what’s come before)? Very cool. Hopefully, the official greenlight comes soon, and we start getting into some casting.
UPDATE 1-11-17: Fox Close to an Official Greenlight on New X-Men TV Series
Deadline is reporting that Fox execs are expecting a final draft for the X-men TV series pilot to “come in shortly,” after which the network will be officially greenlighting their pilot pickup for the series. They’re reportedly already involved in “exploratory casting,” and will be ramping that process up once the greenlight comes through.
At the same time, series creator Matt Nix just sat down with IGN to discuss some of the details regarding the new series, and there are some great bits of information there. First up, Nix confirms what Deadline is hearing from Fox, saying that he’s getting everything together, and “hopefully, it enters the cycle for this year’s pilots.”
Will the Fox X-Men TV Series Be Connected To The Movies?
According to Nix, ‘Yeah.‘ After a follow up from IGN, he elaborated a little more:
“Without getting into specifics that I’ll get murdered for getting into, I would say that a fan of the movies — particularly the movies, but also the comic books — would not be disoriented at all as to where this fits in the mythology.” Nix then qualified that statement a little more, adding “It definitely exists in the same general kind of universe, if that makes sense.”
How Many Episodes Are They Looking At?
When asked about the episode order, Nix said 12-13 episodes for a season was the goal, and referred to the show as “heavily serialized,” saying that they want to be able to tell a coherent story, which becomes much harder when you don’t have a set endpoint. “All of you guys can tell when we start shuffling for the extra episodes! I don’t want to do that.”
Will There Be Established Characters From the X-Men Universe Showing Up?
According to Nix, ‘Some. Again, without getting into specifics, it’s sort of designed to side-step questions like, “Where is Wolverine?” You sort of have to answer those questions. I didn’t want to do anything like, “Wolverine is just off screen!” It exists in a world where those questions are answered without needing to name a lot of names or spend a lot of time dwelling on those issues.”
He also added that though he was inventing new characters as well, he tried to do so with a nod to the existing X-Men mythology, saying that “When I was pitching the show, I pitched some characters that appeared nowhere in the mythology but the guys from Marvel, when I started describing them, all gave each other knowing nods, where it was like, “Oh, I see what he’s doing, yes.” I tried to do a lot of that. I didn’t want to get into the realm of like too much like, “New X-Men here we go!””
Definite thanks to IGN and Nix for a few more details. As a fan of both Burn Notice and The Good Guys (did I mention how sad I was that we only got a single season of punk busting goodness?) I’m excited to see what Nix can do.
Original Post 7-12-16: Burn Notice Creator Matt Nix Working on New Fox X-Men TV Series
These days, it seems like you can’t take a step without tripping over a freshly announced comic-book based movie or TV series. DC and Marvel, in particular, are both riding a tsunami-sized wave of content, spearheaded by the MCU and DCEU. And though Marvel is winning the race when it comes to movies, DC has been cleaning up when it comes to TV properties. However, with the first season of Legion, and Iron Fist and the Defenders set to debut in 2017, Marvel’s catching up. And now, not content with just Legion running on their FX arm, Variety is reporting that Fox is ordering to pilot another as-of-yet untitled X-Men TV series from Burn Notice and the severely underrated punk bustin’ The Good Guys creator Matt Nix.
According to Variety, the action-adventure series will focus on your pair of average, ordinary parents who discover their children have mutant powers and are forced to go on the run when the government baddies come a-calling. And while on the run, they join up with an underground network of mutants in the fight for survival.
Fox and Marvel Television will co-produce the series (and hopefully draw closer in the movie world as well, as the X-Men need to make it into the MCU ASAP), and in addition to Nix, Fox will be bringing Bryan Singer, Lauren Shuler Donner and Simon Kinberg (Marvel’s answer to David Goyer. Seriously, every time DC announces Goyer is involved with a new comic property, Marvel puts Kinberg on one…) onboard in a producorial capacity while Marvel will add Jeph Loeb and Jim Chory to the mix.
This marks the first direct Fox based Marvel series (though FX is owned by Fox), and Fox President David Madden couldn’t be happier, saying that “Developing a Marvel property has been a top priority for the network — and we are so pleased with how Matt Nix has led us into this thrilling universe.”
Loeb, Marvel’s Head of Television, feels very much the same, saying that they’re thrilled to be working with Fox on their first project together, adding that “Matt’s a huge fan of ‘X-Men’ and his take on ‘X-Men,’ with its rich characters and high-stakes adventure, is exactly the show we want on Fox. It’s a great team of creative producers who will be making something entirely unique.”
Ah, the supreme reign of the nerd continues.
Featured Image: courtesy of the uncommonly and uncannily talented Uncanny Knack
The post UPDATE: Once More Unto the X-Men for Director Bryan Singer appeared first on Sci-Fi Addicts.