Polaris Is Magneto's Daughter on Fox's The Gifted

CBR

Yes, Polaris Is Magneto's Daughter on The Gifted

By Kevin Melrose

Published Sep 29, 2017

Showrunner Matt Nix confirms that Fox's X-Men spinoff The Gifted will address both Polaris' parentage and her history of mental illness.

The links between The Gifted and Fox's X-Men film franchise are somewhat fuzzy, with producers finally settling on the upcoming TV drama existing in a different "stream," or timeline, made possible by the events of 2014's X-Men: Days of Future Past. However, there are connections, with the inclusion of the fan-favorite mutant Blink and references to a larger mystery involving the disappearance of the X-Men and the Brotherhood. But there's at least one more: Polaris' parentage.

While speaking with CBR, showrunner Matt Nix acknowledged that, as in the Marvel comic books, on The Gifted Lorna Dane (played by Emma Dumont) will indeed be revealed as the daughter of Magneto.

"Our version of Lorna rolls back the clock to when she didn’t know everything," he said, adding that the drama will also address Polaris' mental illness, long a part of the character's Marvel Comics history. "She’s unstable. The thing that is going to play out very gradually over the course of the series is an exploration of her past. As you know from the comics, it’s a little murky. It’s not like she’s living at home with Magneto and eating cereal."

"When we think of it, the baggage of mental illness – and there is some awareness she is Magneto’s daughter – I mean, her powers certainly are like Magneto’s," Nix continued. "That’s something we will be exploring as time goes on, but more towards the end of the season, when some of these ideas and suspicions come to the fore. She has to confront, 'OK, if that’s the case, what does it mean?' The idea is there are challenges and opportunities with that. In some ways, it might divide her from her friends. In other ways, does she accept the mantle of her birthright? Is it her job to be Magneto in his absence?"

However, The Gifted's producers are still grappling with the matter of Lorna's relationship with Cyclops' brother Havok, played in the X-Men movie prequels by Lucas Till.

"I will say, from a comic perspective, her relationship with Havok is something we haven’t nailed down when that would be or how that would happen," Nix said. "He’s in the movies. He’s not part of the show. It either needs to be far in the future or far in the past, because there’s certain things we can’t do. But, to all the comic fans, it’s absolutely something we think about. How do we navigate this? We care about this history and how do we figure out our version of this history?"

Debuting Monday at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Fox, The Gifted stars Stephen Moyer as Reed Strucker, 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 Strucker and Percy Hynes White as Andy Strucker.