Fox Gives Put Pilot Commitment for Marvel X-MEN-Based Series

As an example of national unity, Marvel and Fox are actually working together on an X-Men TV series.

Variety has revealed that Fox has made a put pilot commitment for a new action-adventure series based on Marvel Comics' X-Men.  According to the article, the untitled series, from writer and Burn Notice creator Matt Nix, "will focus on two ordinary parents who discover their children possess mutant powers.  Forced to go on the run from a hostile government, the family joins up with an underground network of mutants and must fight to survive."

A put pilot is a TV pilot that the network has agreed to air either as a special or series. If the network doesn't air the pilot episode, the network will owe substantial monetary penalties to the studio.  Generally, this guarantees that the pilot will be picked up by the network.

20th Century Fox Television and Marvel Television will co-produce the series with 20th handling physical production.  Nix will serve as executive producer along with Bryan Singer, Lauren Shuler Donner, Simon Kinberg, Marvel’s Jeph Loeb and Jim Chory.

"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," said David Madden, president of entertainment for Fox Broadcasting Company.  "There’s comic book adventure, emotional and complicated relationships and a rich, existing mythology from which to draw. With the brilliant production crew behind this project, it has all the makings of a big, fun and exciting new series."

"Working with Marvel on a television series for Fox has been a professional dream for our head of development, Michael Thorn, and all of us at the studio," remarked Jonathan Davis, president of creative affairs at 20th Century Fox Television.  "Matt, Lauren, Bryan, Simon, Jeph and Jim are a powerhouse team of creative artists, and we can’t wait to get started on what will easily be one of this development season’s most exciting new projects."

Loeb, Marvel’s head of television, added "Marvel Television is thrilled to be co-producing with 20th Century Fox Television on our first project.  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."

In October of 2015, Fox was reportedly working on Hellfire, a series based around X-Men villains The Hellfire Club.  However, Variety claims that the project is no longer moving forward.

Another X-Men-based series, Legion, has reached the pilot stage at FX.