X-Men Spinoff TV Show Legion Main Cast Revealed

Back in October last year, it was announced that Marvel had partnered with Fox to develop two X-Men spinoff shows--Legion and Hellfire. Legion is being produced for the cable channel FX, and now the main cast has been revealed.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the show will star Dan Stevens, Aubrey Plaza, and Jean Smart. All three will be familiar faces to TV viewers--Plaza is best known for her role on Parks and Recreation, while Stevens featured in three seasons of Downton Abbey. Smart appeared most recently in the acclaimed second season of FX's Fargo, as well as in shows such as 24 and Frasier.

Legion is overseen by Fargo showrunner Noah Hawley. Stevens will play David Haller, the troubled son of X-Men leader Professor X, who comes to realise that the voices in his head might in fact be real. THR reports that production will begin in March.

Hellfire is also still in development at Fox. Last month, Deadline reported that showrunners Evan Katz and Manny Coto had exited the project, and that Fox were searching for someone new to oversee the series. The show is being produced for the main Fox channel, and will be based around the Hellfire Club, the secret society of supervillains that featured in 2011's X-Men: First Class.

These productions will be the first time that Marvel has been directly involved with the X-Men onscreen. While Fox are the sole producers of the X-Men films and movie spinoffs such as Wolverine and Deadpool, Marvel have retained the TV rights to the property.