Fox's new X-Men series has been rolling out more and more details in the past weeks, and now it finally has a title. X-Men producer Lauren Shuler Donner took to Twitter to deliver the possible title to fans, and it's perfect. Be prepared to explore the human/mutant connection when Gifted premieres on Fox.
Gifted is a title that carries some weight in the X-Men universe. It's a word, Charles Xavier, aka Professor X, typically uses to describe the mutants he meets around the world. The word is also found in the name of the X-Men academy, "Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters." It's a smart but subtle nod to the franchise while still distancing itself from outright saying, "This is an X-Men show," which is nice.
One might wonder how a title like that is supposed to draw the Marvel X-Men connection to a less superhero seasoned audience, and the simple answer is it's not. Showrunners have been pretty upfront that this new series is supposed to be a different X-Men story than what we've seen in the past. Gifted is said to focus on the human connection to the X-Men universe, as opposed to mutants battling mutants. It'd be kind of hard to focus on humans living in a mutant world when you have X-Men in the title, and including it in there would likely disappoint some audiences.
That said, the show should have something for both superhero fans and casual viewers alike as both mutants and humans will collaborate in this interesting story. So far we've seen True Blood's Stephen Moyer cast in the role of Reed. Reed is a father on the run from the government, as he looks to keep his children, who are developing powers, out of the mutant registry. Reed ends up getting help from a band of mutants on the run, as Jamie Chung was announced to be playing comic book mutant Blink, and Blair Redford who is speculated to be another comic book mutant, Forge. In addition to those appearances, creator Matt Nix has confirmed that the series will take place within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, although it's not expected to cross over with the films.
That's just the beginning of the cast of Gifted, as the tweet for the possible announcement featured a picture showing off another unannounced actor to the series: Joseph Morgan. Morgan is best known for his role as Klaus Mikaelson in The Vampire Diaries and other various films. No word on who he is playing yet, as we've yet to get an official announcement regarding his casting. Vampires, werewolves, and mutants have crossed before, so we'll be keeping an eye on if/who Morgan will be playing and let you know as soon as we do.
In the meantime, let's just be hyped over the fact that we can hopefully call this show Gifted and not "Untitled X-Men project." No details on when this series will be released, but there's plenty of X-Men stuff out there currently to keep you jazzed until we have a date. You can start by checking out our review of Logan, or how Patrick Stewart is interested in appearing in Legion.
