For years, X-Men fans have wanted to see their favorite mutant heroes arrive on the small screen, and in 2016, Noah Hawley made that dream a reality when Legion debuted on FX. Now, it's time for the next phase of Fox's television plans for its lucrative X-Men franchise when Matt Nix's The Gifted arrives in early October.

Of course, there's a bit of a twist: in this reality, the X-Men are missing, having disappeared along with the Brotherhood as the result of what Nix describes as "a bit of a 9/11 event." The series' story follows Reed and Caitlin Strucker, who discover their two teenage children -- Lauren and Andy -- possesses mutant abilities of their own. On the run from the government, the Struckers seek safety with a secret underground community of mutants where they meet Polaris, Eclipse, Thunderbird and Blink.

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Ahead of the series' arrival on Oct. 2, CBR spoke with Nix about all things Gifted. Over the course of our conversation, the showrunner went in-depth on what fans can expect from the Mutant Underground, how the show will handle Polaris’ heritage as the daughter of Magneto, Blink’s true power level, and how the villainous Ahab will differ from his comic book inspiration.

CBR: In your mind, what differentiates the X-Men from other groups such as the Avengers and the Fantastic Four?

Matt Nix: The core of the X-Men has always been this idea of power relationships between people in society. From a comic-book perspective, the X-Men was a pioneer in the idea of mutants as a persecuted and somewhat endangered segment of society. It’s always played with that tension between, “What do people with superpowers owe to society? What does society owe to them? What do they have to fear from then?” Then there’s the ongoing question of what’s the proper way for society to deal with a possibly terrifying minority population within the social body?

Then, on the other side for the mutants, what’s a legitimate form of protest? If you’re fighting for your rights, how violent can it legitimately be? Are you fighting for co-existence? Are you fighting for domination? What are you fighting for? Those are the classic questions of the X-Men. The series is basically a take on that in the sense that the mutants in the story are working with this Mutant Underground.

What is the mutant landscape in the series?

The X-Men are gone. The Brotherhood is gone. Most of the powerful classic mutants are not around. People don’t know where they’ve gone. They are shrouded in mystery. It comes out gradually over the course of the series that there’s been a cataclysmic event, a bit of a 9/11 event, that caused enormous social upheaval and a lot of hatred towards mutants. It’s somehow related to the disappearance of the X-Men and the Brotherhood.

In the wake of that, this Mutant Underground has appeared. They are working to deal with the results on this society-wide crackdown on mutants. They are trying to get mutants in trouble to safety. It’s not illegal to be a mutant, but it’s functionally illegal to use your powers in a public place in any way that could conceivably endanger anyone. So, The Gifted is another way into those classic questions of the X-Men. This group is asking itself a lot of the same questions that have been asked in the comics and the movies, but they are asking them from a unique perspective. They don’t have a mansion. They don’t have a jet. They are living in a ruined bank that is falling down and rests on the outskirts of Atlanta. They don’t have anything, including money. They are struggling to buy food. It’s a very different take on the comics, but they ask some of the same questions. Some people want to fight. Some people want to find a way to co-exist.

The other side of it is the Strucker family coming into this, having lived on the human side of the equation and enjoyed the rights and privileges that humans have in this society and mutants don’t, really, and not realizing that was the case. They were blind to their own privileges and now they find themselves on the other side of this equation. They are waking to the reality of the world that they live in. Reed Strucker, who was prosecuting mutants, had felt like he was a human person just enforcing the law. He didn’t hate anybody, but now finds he was part of a system that was really hurting people. Caitlin Strucker was a mom who didn’t really think about these issues and now realizes that by not thinking about these issues, she was also part of the problem. Our human eyeballs into this, in the form of the two kids who just discovered their mutant powers and are navigating that. Then, there’s the two parents who don’t have any powers and are dealing with that.

Then, the last thing I’d say is they are really a good microcosm for those issues as well because for the Strucker family, if it comes down to a war between mutants and humans, it’s a war between parents and kids. The family gets torn apart, so that’s something they want to avoid.

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Polaris/Lorna Dane carries plenty of baggage. In the comic books, she’s been Magneto’s daughter, Havok’s girlfriend, and Malice’s psychic punching bag. What is your take on the character?

Our version of Lorna rolls back the clock to when she didn’t know everything. Definitely, the mental illness is an issue. 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. 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. 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? 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. 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, “Okay, 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?

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Eclipse was created for the television series. Where does he fit into the Mutant Underground, and what path is he on?

Eclipse was born in South America. He basically made his way north working with the drug cartels. That was his only opportunity as a kid. His parents kicked him out and the only way he could survive was initially, he was a street rat and he ended up working for the drug cartel. The idea is he came to the attention of the Mutant Underground and they ended up bringing him in as someone who had connections and know how. They are smuggling mutants into Mexico. A lot of times, Eclipse has experience smuggling drugs out of Mexico. The Mutant Underground recognized a hunger in him to do something other than move drugs.

What was important to us with him, and when I was thinking about creating the character, was this idea of exploring somebody who was forced to be an outlaw and that relationship to society, where he was rejected by his human parents. He was struggling to survive. He did things that he’s not proud of in order to survive. At the same time, he cannot really deny that he enjoyed it. The reason that he’s Eclipse is he’s sunshine covered by darkness. There’s a battle within him. He has these dark impulses. That’s what makes him useful to the Mutant Underground. He’s a guy who knows how to kick ass if necessary. He’s a guy who understands how to get things done on the dark side, but he’s trying to help the Mutant Underground. Over the course of the season, he has to reconnect with his past. Everybody struggles with, “Is that a legitimate thing to do?” He hates it. He doesn’t want to do it, but there are circumstances. He could lose friends. Under those circumstances, he is willing to re-engage with a past he left behind.

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Blink has always been a fan favorite character, from her very first appearance in the mid-'90s. How extensive are her powers on The Gifted? Did you have discussions about her bing able to visit different dimensions or realities?

It’s certainly come up. In the trailer, you’ll notice she has this physical relationship with her portals. She pulls them open. I just want to reassure people that it’s not that we don’t know about the way she throws portals in the comics. It’s not like we don’t know Polaris’ hair is green. I tend not to read internet comments, but one that got me was, “Polaris’ hair is green.” “You think I don’t know that? Come on, dude. Gimme a second. Polaris’ hair will be green.” In the case of Blink, this is a Blink who is not there yet. In the X-Men movie, “Days of Future Past,” she’s sort of the girl who makes portals, but doesn’t say much. What I love about Blink is her powers are sort of like, “I’m out of here. Screw you guys.” There’s that attitude. She has her own mind about things. She’s working with the Mutant Underground, but she’s not a joiner. If there were uniforms, she wouldn’t wear one. She’s very independently minded.

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But, one of the things we really explore over the season is her relationship to her powers, which she doesn’t understand that well, yet. Blink is learning and getting better. For her, portals initially are a way out of situations she doesn’t want to be in. One theme we explore a lot is the idea of, “Where do your powers come from? Is it fear? Is it anger? What emotional connection does it have to you?” So, for Blink, one of the things we’re exploring is that part of the reason her powers haven’t developed beyond pulling portals open is she’s a baby when it comes to understanding and connecting to her mutant powers. That’s something that evolves as the show goes on.

In the pilot, Blink does something really huge with her powers. In the second episode, you realize it nearly killed her. It’s a huge issue. How do her powers work? How far can she go? What can she do? Blink is so powerful. When you think of the comics, there’s that great issue where she portals a plane. We need a movie budget for that. We roll it back to she’s interacting with her powers in new ways and figuring out exactly what she can do.

Roderick Campbell, known to comic-book readers as the villainous Ahab, will be plaguing the mutants. What makes him such a good foil for these characters?

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Roderick Campbell is a much more extreme character in the comics. We’re not making a show that exists in a universe where people have big, purple, robotic exoskeletons. He’s not that guy, just like Stryker was very changed for the movies. The idea for Roderick is he’s running this program that is lethally threatening to the mutants. The significance of that emerges over the course of the season.

Lastly, do you view these mutants as heroes? Will they be saving the day on a weekly basis, or, are they too busy saving themselves?

It is certainly not,"save the mutant of the week.” They end up needing to do both at the same time in the sense that if the Mutant Underground does not survive, then the last line of defense for mutants, overall, will fall. Over the course of the series, you definitely see the ongoing activities of the Mutant Underground, as they are trying to help mutants. At the same time, the Mutant Underground is threatened, so they have to save the Mutant Underground in order to continue to save mutants.

Debuting on the Fox network on Oct. 2, The Gifted is a production of Marvel Television created by Matt Nix and starring Stephen Moyer, Amy Acker, Sean Teale, Jamie Chung, Coby Bell, Emma Dumont, Blair Redford and Natalie Alyn Lind.