What To Expect from FX's Legion Season 2

The following interview was conducted during 2017's Comic-Con International in San Diego.

In Legion's daring first season, FX's X-Men related show shook up the expectations of a superhero television drama by diving head first into the trippy headspace of its possibly unhinged anti-hero, David Haller (Dan Stevens). The first episode pitched awe-struck audiences into a freshman season filled with menacing mutants, cryogenically frozen geniuses, fractured flashbacks and a dancing femme fatale. What could possibly come next for David, his friends and foes? Last year, CBR spoke with the cast and creators of the hit FX series to see what Legion has in store for Season 2.

Executive Lauren Shuler Donner opened up about Legion's second season, which will feature ten episodes. At the time of our talk interview, the cast only had access to the first script, but Shuler Donner was happy to reveal a key detail. "(In Season 1,) David was dealing with this evil within. (In Season 2), we are going to be dealing this time with the evil without."

Of course, part of that "without" will involve the fiendish Lenny Busker (Aubrey Plaza), who teamed up/overtook the recently revived psychic Oliver Bird (Jemaine Clement) in Season 1's bonkers finale. Asked when audiences will get to see that demented duo again, Schuler Donner grinned, promising, "Right off the bat. The first minute, sitting by a pool. That's all I'm going to say."

Being separated from Oliver will be hard on his wife Melanie (Jean Smart), of course, who suffered a loss first when he was put in a cryogenic freeze, and then again when he returned without any memory of his wife. Still, Smart is hopeful. After telling us "my character has a change that's quite interesting (in the premiere)," she shared her hopes for later in the season, saying, "I would like to do the tango with Jemaine!"

"There will be song and dance for sure," confirmed executive producer John Cameron, though he demurred from specifying what type. We told him of Smart's wish to dance with Clement, and he replied, "I bet she does! And that's perfect for them." Fingers crossed!

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Jeremie Harris, who plays memory guide Ptonomy Wallace, told us, "Everyone else gets a dance. I want a dance." Asked if he has experience as a dancer, he said, "No. But I'll learn. I'll work on my choreography as best I can! And if not, I guess they'd just cut it out. But (Ptonomy) is so straightforward and has such a stoic energy. It'd be cool to see him kind of break out a little more."

The season's most talked about dance number was delivered by Aubrey's swaggering Lenny in a sequence the actress called "really fun and challenging." But asked what she'd like to do in Season 2, Plaza -- who was paired with Stevens -- said drolly, "I'd like to be on a horse."

Rolling with it, Stevens agreed. "I'd like to see Aubrey on a horse," he said, adding, "I'd like to see me on maybe a more unusual animal? Like riding a capybara or dolphins. The wonderful thing about Legion is that all of those things are vaguely possible."

"We haven't seen that show before," Hawley said of the show's surreal tone and strange surprises, "So that show could be anything. There's no rules or guidelines. Playing with those boundaries really freed me up to just follow this character's story and try to make something subjective, where you were on the ride with him."

Speaking of going on the ride with David, his and Syd's romantic relationship will evolve over the course of the new season. "'Evolve' is a great word," Rachel Keller told CBR, "I think they're going on that process. If this is about a mutant type of mindset, or a mental illness, there's a lot of exploration in that self work that happens. And what that brings up for someone, the thrills and terror of discovering yourself."

Stevens also teased vaguely, promising, "A lot more surprises and insanity." While Smart said, "It's as wild as it was last year, if not more so."

While Hawley noted "We're not trying to win everybody over. We're trying to make something very specific. It's liberating," he added that FX had faith in the audience, and the audience showed faith in the show. Now, it seems that audience will be rewarded with a follow-up season even wilder and weirder than the first.

"David is dealing with mental illness," Shuler Donner said. "So you never know what to expect."

Premiering April 3 on FX, Legion Season 2 will be 10 episodes. The series stars Dan Stevens as David Haller, Rachel Keller as Syd Barrett, Amber Midthunder as Kerry Loudermilk, Aubrey Plaza as Lenny Busker, Bill Irwin as Cary Loudermilk, Jeremie Harris as Ptonomy Wallace, Jean Smart as Dr. Melanie Bird and Jemaine Clement as Oliver Bird.