The Gifted’s Executive Producer Matt Nix Explains Why You’ll See More Factions This Year

 

While it may seem The Gifted positioned itself to be a battle between The Hellfire Club and the Mutant Underground in its first season finale, the second season will introduce two more factions. That means the show will feature the Underground, the Hellfire Club, The Purifiers (who made a few brief appearances in the first season) Sentinel Services and the Morlocks.
But according to executive producer Matt Nix, bringing all these groups into the mix serves his plan for the show. As he explained to Entertainment Weekly, each group has “a philosophy that connects to some of our main characters and will sorely test some of those relationships.” While there is a danger of overpopulating the show, Nix added that he wants to “explore all the characters and part of the way of exploring these characters is exploring what ideologies and associations they’re attracted to and what they do in response to these conflicts.”
In the case of the Hellfire Club, it’s taking an eye for an eye — the old Magneto philosophy — while the Morlocks’ aim is one of safety for the odd. The Purifiers’ ideology is in the name, but the Mutant Underground is at a crossroads. While trying to save as many mutants as possible, Nix notes John (Blair Redford) is trying to determine how much he “owes” to the X-Men philosophy.
That sort of thinking made The Gifted a delight in its first year. By embracing the lack of well-known X-Men characters it established an interesting world and conflict. And it seems the conflict will be amplified by all of these factions.
The Gifted returns tomorrow on Fox.