“The Gifted” will premiere Monday, October 2nd at 9 P.M. on Fox. Created by Matt Nix, showrunner of the hit show “Burn Notice,” the show will also be executive produced by Marvel Television head Jeph Loeb, frequent X-Men movie producer Simon Kinsberg (who will direct the next X-Men feature film), “Underworld’s” Len Wiseman (who will direct the second episode) and frequent X-Men movie director Bryan Singer (who will direct the pilot) among others. It will be a co-production between 20th Century Fox Television and Marvel Television.
Among the lead cast of the show will be TV veterans Stephen Moyer (“True Blood”) and Amy Acker (“Angel”), along with several up and coming actors including Percy Hynes White, Natalie Alyn Lind and Emma Dumont.
“The Gifted” will be a ten hour long episode season following the Strucker family. The parents discover one night that both their teenage children have mutant powers, which puts them at risk of a government organization whose goal is to hunt down mutants. Without any powers of their own, the parents go on the run with their children where they come across an underground community dedicated to protecting mutants and fighting against those who would harm them. The show has been described as taking place in the established universe of the X-Men film series, unlike FX’s X-Men set series “Legion.”
This is Fox’s second attempt to create an X-Men based show after their Hellfire Club series did not move forward. Nix secured a put pilot commitment for “The Gifted” after the enthusiastic reception towards his pilot script.
“The Gifted” will premiere following the season premiere of “Lucifer.” It will compete against the return of CBS’s “Kevin Can Wait” and the premiere of their new comedy series “9JKL.” Fox moved it’s long running series “Gotham” a week and replaced “The Gifted” in it’s slot to give the show a chance, though they have confessed it will deal with a tough ratings climb. From this writer’s experience, most of the people I have talked to are not even aware the show is coming out, showing the channel may be correct to be worried.
Early critical reviews of the show have been largely positive, praising the show’s engaging premise, ensemble cast and special effects.