Scream Queens’s Skyler Samuels Will Gift FOX’s The Gifted With Her Presence
by Erik Amaya
The Gifted may soon have a White Queen to contend with. Or, at least, a Scream Queen.
Deadline reports Scream Queens vet Skyler Samuels will recur on the FOX mutant thriller series in upcoming episodes as “refugee mutant with telepathic abilities and a mysterious past.” While a number of established X-Men characters fit that description — in fact, doesn’t “mysterious past” come as a side-order with telepathic or telekinetic abilities? — there is one particular Teep with a striking resemblance to Samuels.
Is it possible the show will introduce Emma Frost?
Created by Chris Claremont and John Byrne in 1980, the character has been a mainstay as both a villain and a hero for decades. While her origins have been spelled out over the years, she is a prominent mutant telepath with limited success in non-comics X-Men media. January Jones played the part in X-Men: First Class to a lukewarm reception. Finola Hughes played her in the nearly forgotten Generation X TV movie. She’s also appeared in various X-Men animated projects, but never made the indelible impression characters like Storm, Kitty Pryde or Blink made in their out-of-comics appearances. She’s ripe for a transmedia rethink.
Other options include a pre-body-swap Betsy Bradock (Psylocke), Moondragon, or even a time-displaced Jean Grey.
But one good reason to suspect Emma Frost is in the report’s lack of a character name. Up until now, The Gifted has not been shy about the characters they are using; boldly announcing Elena Satine’s inclusion as Dreamer shortly before the series debuted. Perhaps the character’s identity is meant to be a shock for X-Men fans watching the show and there are few things more shocking than the White Queen appearing on the Mutant Underground’s doorstep.
Provided, of course, the Hellfire Club turns up on the show. As it happens, FOX was developing a Hellfire Club TV series before abandoning the idea in favor of The Gifted. Should Samuels turn out to be Emma Frost, it may represent an invasion of sorts from that abandoned TV concept.
The Gifted airs Mondays on FOX.
