Before the merger between Disney and Fox allowed most Marvel characters to exist in the same cinematic universe, continuity within the X-Men films was hard to pin down. For the TV series The Gifted, the connection to the films was even more tenuous.
Matt Nix, creator of The Gifted, talked about the difficulties in making the show in an interview with ComicBook.com. When asked about his experience with Marvel television, he noted that he had been an in unique position. "In The Gifted, we were really doing kind of this offshoot, right," Nix explained. "Originally the whole thing for that show was, 'you must stay out of the way of the movies. You are not allowed to touch on the movies.'"
To find a way around that hurdle, Nix said, "I was just the guy that came in with the best idea for staying out of the way of the movies, which was, 'Hey, remember in Days of Future Past how they go back in time and then there's an anti-mutant dystopia in the future and then in this time, it looks like our time?'"
Using that era as the setting for The Gifted meant that nothing that happened would affect the movies: "Just give me the years in between, and then my show will get erased, it doesn't matter," said Nix. "It doesn't touch your movie timeline, because it's the timeline you erased. So just give me that, and then I'll do that, and I'll sort of show how mutants came to be oppressed, and then I can stay out of the way of the movies."
However, there were still restrictions on what elements of the X-Men universe could be used. Nix recalled, "And so they were like, 'Alright, sounds good. You are not allowed to say the word Magneto.' And I was like, 'But, see, the daughter of Magneto is in the show...' And they were like, 'That's right. Don't even say anything that rhymes with Magneto.'"
Nix concluded with some appreciation for the way the Marvel Cinematic Universe has kept its properties playing off of each other. "And so, that was just a very different task, that was like a very different world than the current Marvel world, which is all about integration with the movies. I think that's way better, I think it's a way better way to be."
Previously, Nix said in an interview with CBR that he wanted more flexibility for the X-Men when they next appear onscreen: "My fantasy for an X-Men TV show going forward, whether or not I'm involved with it, is something where they really can integrate what's going on with the movies and what's going on on TV and not need to keep such a rigid wall between the two of them."
Source: ComicBook.com