Legion is an American cable television series created for FX by Noah Hawley, based on the Marvel Comics character David Haller/Legion.
It is connected to the X-Men film series, the first television series to do so, and is produced by FX Productions in association with Marvel Television. Hawley serves as showrunner on the series. Dan Stevens stars as Haller, a mutant diagnosed with schizophrenia at a young age. Rachel Keller, Aubrey Plaza, Bill Irwin, Jeremie Harris, Amber Midthunder, Katie Aselton, and Jean Smart also star.
- Noah Hawley has hinted at the possibility of Charles Xavier appearing in the series. It is currently unknown if Patrick Stewart or James McAvoy would reprise their roles.
- The show is part of the X-Men cinematic universe as it connects to it’s future films while acting as a standalone series. However, it’s hinted that it exists in its own universe and not part of the X-Men universe.
- The character of Syd Barrett who is played by Rachel Keller is named after Syd Barrett of the rock band Pink Floyd, whose music was an important influence on the series for Noah Hawley. Barrett left Pink Floyd in 1968 due to mental illness issues.
- Aubrey Plaza’s character Lenny Busker was originally written as a middle-aged, drug-addicted man in a mental hospital.
- The second FX series from Noah Hawley. The first series is Fargo (2014).
- The character Syd Barrett is frequently shown early in the pilot episode with light reflecting around her head. This is a possible homage to the Pink Floyd tracks “Shine on you crazy diamond” parts 1 and 2 which were about former lead singer Syd Barrett who was also considered mentally ill.
- In an interview with Collider, producer Simon Kinberg compared this series to Breaking Bad (2008).
- In the pilot, David Selby (Dark Shadows) plays the role of a supervisory researcher studying David.
- Jean Smart and Rachel Keller both starred in the second season of FX’s Fargo. Jean played Floyd Gerhardt who was the grandmother of Rachel’s character Simone Gerhardt. Noah Hawley was so happy with their performances that wrote the roles for them.
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