X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST has expanded the roster of characters to the point that fans have worried if director Bryan Singer has tried to cram too much into this summer’s mutant extravaganza. But, Singer has promised that the follow-up, X-MEN: APOCALYPSE, will not feature any of the original trilogy characters. So, how do you continue to expand your franchise outside of the Wolverine movies without spending an exorbitant amount of money?
The answer, according to screenwriter Simon Kinberg, may be the small screen. During an interview with Collider, Kinberg was asked about expansion to television and his answer was that Fox has been discussing it.
“We’re still in this place of figuring out what the future of the franchise will be, but when you look at S.H.I.E.L.D. to some extent and what Marvel is doing now with Daredevil and other shows on Netflix, it makes sense to tell some of these stories in TV partly because there’s just not enough screens to do all these characters, and also because the serialized format of comic books is better suited for TV,” Kinberg said. “Because that’s it, every week you come back to the same characters different story, and in comic books every week it’s the same characters, different story.”
While the full extent of a feature film budget cannot exist on a network television series, shows like AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D., HEROES, CW’s ARROW, and SyFy’s ALPHAS have shown you can tell an effective superhero story on a weekly basis. AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. may not be quite the same as THE AVENGERS in terms of scope, there are so many mutants within the X-MEN universe that there are countless characters worthy of their own showcase.
X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST hits screens on May 23rd.