Casting for FX’s X-Men offshoot Legion continues apace today. Two weeks ago, we brought you the news that Aubrey Plaza, Jean Smart and Downton Abbey actor Dan Stevens were added to Noah Hawley’s mutant drama, and now The Hollywood Reporter brings word that newcomer Jeremie Harris has secured a recurring role in the show.
Hawley is now poised to get the cameras rolling next month, for a spinoff series that will largely revolve around Stevens’ mercurial lead, David Haller. Described as a schizophrenic plagued by vivid hallucinations, Legion‘s core character “has been in and out of psychiatric hospitals for years. But after a strange encounter with a fellow patient, he’s confronted with the possibility that the voices he hears and the visions he sees might be real.”
First appearing in New Mutants, Haller is the son of Charles Xavier (aka Professor X) and Israeli Holocaust survivor Gabrielle Haller. As for Harris, he’ll play the part of Ptonomy, a reclusive and sarcastic character that was once held up as a child prodigy, only to have the reputation slip between his fingers. Completing the core cast are Plaza’s Lenny and Melanie, “a nurturing, demanding therapist with a sharp mind and unconventional methods” that will be portrayed by Fargo alum, Smart.
Co-written and co-produced by X-Men stalwart Bryan Singer, Legion is eyeing a premiere in fall 2016, with production now on course to set the wheels in motion come March.
