Fox’s X-Men cinematic universe has certainly expanded throughout its decade-plus run, but now the franchise is setting up shop on the small screen. Starting with FX’s upcoming Legion – created by Fargo showrunner Noah Hawley and taking place in its own universe – and possibly continuing on with another untitled X-Men-related show developed by Burn Notice creator Matt Nix. While there hasn’t been an overabundance of information on the untitled show, it’s rumored that it will focus on two parents with no powers protecting their mutant children from the government.
This story is reminiscent of quite a few different X-Men comics, which regularly focused on the discrimination directed at the mutant community. Some of these story arcs, however, focused on robots called Sentinels hunting down mutants and imprisoning and/or killing them outright. While some fans may have distantly hoped for the robots – which made their live action debut on the highly successful X-Men: Days of Future Past – to appear on the show, there’s new information that suggests such hopes may have merit.
While talking to IGN (via CBM), producer Lauren Shuler Donner elaborated not only on Nix’s untitled X-Men show taking place in the prime universe (where the main X-Men films take place), but also revealed that the Sentinels would appear on his show, should it indeed be greenlit by FOX. Interestingly, Donner also revealed that the Sentinels would look very different than the ones seen before. For Donner’s full answer on Nix’s show as well as what differentiates it from Legion, read below:
"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. It gives Noah the freedom to do what he wants to do. Because we play with so many different timelines, and we rebooted and not really rebooted and all that, we felt like, OK, we're going to throw it out there and hope the fans accept it."
The Sentinels being brought to television in live-action form is certainly a smart move by FOX for the untitled X-Men show, and it could do wonders to really illustrate the dangers the mutants of Nix’s world face. With it being set in the prime universe, it’s hard not to wonder if the show would eventually bring in some form of Nimrod as well. In the comics, Nimrod was something of an ultra-Sentinel, featuring regeneration that made him nearly invulnerable and a host of other devastating abilities as well.
Naturally, some fans may wonder what Donner means by changing the Sentinels from what’s previously been seen, and if this could possibly point to more advanced robots than the X-Men: Days of Future Past film featured. Of course, it could also mean they’ll be smaller so as to be less stressful on a presumably smaller television show budget. Either way, it’s hard not to be excited at the prospect of bringing some of the more Sentinel-oriented comic stories to a format that encourages long-form storytelling.
Screen Rant will keep you updated on the untitled X-Men television show as it becomes available.