DOWNTON ABBEY Star Joins LEGION

X-Men Legacy #1 courtesy Marvel
X-Men Legacy #1 courtesy Marvel

A Downton Abbey veteran plays the title character based on Professor Xavier’s son.

Marvel announced Dan Stevens, Aubrey Plaza and Jean Smart (Fargo) have joined the cast of the pilot for Legion.

Here are the official descriptions of characters.

DAVID (Dan Stevens) – Diagnosed as schizophrenic at a young age, David is a haunted man, trying to find his way back to sanity, but he’s getting tired and is about to give up when he meets the girl of his dreams.

LENNY (Aubrey Plaza) – David’s friend, who despite a life of drugs and alcohol abuse, knows that any day now her life is gonna turn around, which gives Lenny the likeable energy of the impossible optimist despite her rough demeanor.

MELANIE (Jean Smart) – A nurturing, demanding therapist with a sharp mind and unconventional methods.

SYD (Rachel Keller) – Self-sufficient and street smart, Syd uses her sharp and prickly demeanor to protect her soft core, because even though it makes her a sucker and puts her at risk, she still believes in happily ever after.

In the X-Men comics, Legion (David Haller) is the trouble son of Professor Charles Xavier. David possesses multiple personalities. Each personality controls a different mutant power. David’s actions created the Age of Apocalypse reality.

Noah Hawley (Fargo) wrote the pilot and serves as an Executive Producer along with X-Men film producers Lauren Shuler Donner, Bryan Singer, Simon Kinberg and Marvel Television veterans Jeph Loeb, Jim Chory and John Cameron. The pilot for “Legion” will be produced by FX Productions and Marvel Television, with FXP handling the physical production.

The pilot begins production next month.

By Editor