By the time next year rolls comes to a close, there will be almost as enough Marvel Comics-based TV shows to support an entire channel, and if every new series comes out looking as good as Fox's The Gifted looks in this extended first trailer, then they can already start taking my subscription fees. After its initial mutant-ness was revealed, The Gifted tried to distance itself from being tagged an "X-Men series," and the namedrop in the trailer seems to reveal why it played out like that.
As it goes with most first trailers like this, The Gifted is offering up footage that comes entirely from its already-produced pilot episode, which was convincing enough for Fox to order it up for the fall season. And if this is to be one of the weaker episodes of the series, as pilots can often be, then viewers are in for the most X-Men-ish adventures that live-action TV has delivered yet. Partly because of the matter-maneuvering powers, of course, but also because of the imposing forces that want to take those with powers away from their already set-in-stone lives.
As seen in the trailer, True Blood's Stephen Moyer and Person of Interest's Amy Acker play the parents of a pair of children with unique abilities. Natalie Alyn Lind's Lauren and Percy Hynes White's Andy are certainly capable of making things happen once they're put under pressure, and that's what puts them in the crosshairs of the authorities. Which means the family has to go on the run, but at least there are others out there willing to help in the form of an underground community.
Such as Jaimie Chung's teleporting Clarice "Blink" Fong, Emma Dumont's magnetism-controlling Lorna "Polaris" Dane, and Blair Redford's underground community leader John "Thunderbird" Proudstar. And, of course, the man seen above: Sean Teale's Marcos "Eclipse" Diaz, who was the one to drop the X-Men line.
The X-Men, the Brotherhood. We don't even know if they exist anymore!
No Stan Lee cameo in there as far as I could tell, but it's coming. Let's hope that there's enough of an X-Men legacy left out there to join the fight at some point, too. The Gifted doesn't yet have an exact premiere date locked down just yet, but you can be sure that we'll telepathically send it along to everyone when it gets announced by Fox. And if that doesn't work, just keep checking back, and for everything hitting the small screen in the meantime, head to our summer premiere schedule.
