The X-Men may be coming to a television near you but not unless Marvel ultimately gives the go ahead to FOX to make the show…
There have been rumors for years about an ‘X-Men’ television series and the possiblity of it happening only got stronger with a slew of comic book shows finding success on the small screen lately.
From Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. to Gotham, comic book series are all the rage right now and FOX is interested in cashing in with the X-Men as well.
According to FOX Entertainment chairman Gary Newman, the idea of a ‘X-Men’ television show has been tossed around and talks are ongoing to develop it into a full blown series. Negotiations are underway to bring the series to life on FOX but there’s one hurdle that still has to be jumped before an X-Men TV show can even begin.
While FOX and their sister studio 20th Century FOX own the rights to the X-Men characters for films, the comic itself still belongs to Marvel and for any show to move forward, they have to give approval. Walden says talks are ongoing and obviously it’s a sensitive process considering the kind of money a show like the X-Men could generate — and on the flipside of course Marvel wants a good show if one is going to be made at all.
“It’s in negotiations,” Newman said. “We’re cautiously optimistic, we had a good meeting with them. That will not be on a fast track creatively. This is just the deal, now we have to find the creative.”
Marvel has already gone full speed ahead with several TV series including ‘S.H.I.E.L.D.’ as well as ‘Agent Carter’ and four new series set to debut on Netflix including ‘Daredevil’ and ‘AKA Jessica Jones’. It’s unclear if Marvel would be willing to approve an X-men television show knowing it could end up going head-to-head with another of their properties.
So for now this is just the beginning stage of what could be a long and involved process to bring the X-Men to television. If a deal gets done, the X-Men probably wouldn’t land on FOX until 2016 or 2017 at the absolute earliest.
