In a world in which shared cinematic universes have become not only more prevalent but more expected, fans are conditioned to search for connections between new film and television projects and their established franchises. However, in the case of Fox's upcoming TV drama The Gifted, ties to the long-running X-Men film series may not be immediately apparent.

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Speaking with eTalk, The Gifted star Stephen Moyer (True Blood) explained his perspective on how, and where, the new series fits into the larger, established X-Men continuity.

"Within the X-Men films, we’re sort of not allied to them or positioned within that," he said. "There are obviously mutant characters that have a place in the comic books. Some of them are different, some of them are sort of related in some way. But in terms of timeline, because obviously we just had Logan, which was a lot further forward, and obviously Legion, which is a lot further back. So we definitely slot into a timeline, but as of yet, we’re not allied. I think they have given themselves a lot of leeway in order to be able to go places, but we’ve enough story within our universe to propel us forward without having to do that."

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Based on Moyer's comments, it seems as if Fox will take an approach similar to that of Legion, whose first season gave nods to broader X-Men continuity, but wasn't bound to it. That also provides the writers with more freedom to experiment and take bigger risks, which proved beneficial for Legion, Deadpool and Logan.

Airing Mondays at 9 p.m. ET/PT this fall on Fox, The Gifted also stars Amy Acker as Caitlin Strucker, Sean Teale as Marcos Diaz/Eclipse, Coby Bell as Jace Turner, Emma Dumont cast as Lorna Dane/Polaris, Jamie Chung as Blink/Clarice Fong and Blair Redford as John Proudstar/Thunderbird, Natalie Alyn Lind as Lauren Strukcer and Percy Hynes White as Andy Strucker.

(via Screen Rant)