We’ve long wondered what, if any connection FOX’s Bryan Singer-directed X-Men drama might have to the movie franchise, though the latest dips a bit outside its reality. True Blood alum Stephen Moyer (as well as Rogue one Anna Paquin’s husband) will topline the mutant drama, albeit in a brand-new role.

Per Deadline, the Bastard Executioner and Shots Fired star will play Reed, parent to mutant children, and described as “an ambitious attorney trying to balance the demands of his job at the DA’s office with his responsibilities to his family.” Most recently, the series cast Gotham alum Jamie Chung as Marvel mutant Blink, who Singer had previously showcased in Days of Future Past, while the new cast also features Switched at Birth star Blair Redford as a Native American mutant leader.

FOX had previously set franchise helmer Singer to direct a pilot for the untitled new drama from Burn Notice creator Matt Nix, said to follow “two human parents who discover their children as mutants, forcing them to run from a hostile government, and join with an underground network of mutants to survive.” The series was also said to take place in the universe of the films (potentially including Sentinels as well), though Nix previously doubted any major interaction:

I guess I’d say in a sort of general way it acknowledges that events like the events that have happened in the movies have happened, you know what I mean? But it’s not to date… it’s still evolving. We’ll see how much that comes in. It’s certainly not “Since this happened in X-Men Apocalypse now all of these things are happening!”, which I think is cool, but they already did that. […]

It yet isn’t clear if FOX will issue a series order, but who else might join the cast? Does Moyer’s presence suggest Anna Paquin might reprise her role?

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