The Gifted’s ‘Dawn of the Mutant Age’ May Introduce a Proto-Genosha
Marvel’s The Gifted spent its first season exploring the tension between humans and mutants as they react to each other with fear and distrust. In its second season, premiering later this month, it looks like the conflict will be escalating.
Opposing ideologies among mutants came to a head in Season 1’s finale, when Polaris (Emma Dumont) and Andy Strucker (Percy Hynes White) left the Mutant Underground to join a group of mutant extremists, the Inner Circle. Showrunner Matt Nix has a few hints about how the relationships between the characters will develop, and how they affect the world around them.
“When we meet the leader of the Inner Circle this year, Reeva Payge — and Grace Byers does an amazing job with this — one of the things that I love about her, and how we approach the Inner Circle, [is] they’re true believers,” said Nix in an interview with IGN. “They are trying to fight for a mutant homeland, because they, really, sincerely believe that that is the only way that they can protect the people they love.”
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Nix went on to highlight a different perspective, which some of The Gifted‘s mutants still hold.
“And on the other side, the Mutant Underground is fighting for the dream of the X-Men, which is mutants and non-mutants living side-by-side in peace,” said Nix. “And both sides are right, in a certain way.”
In the comics, this dichotomy was most notable through the history of Genosha, an island nation which originally built its wealth and power by enslaving its mutant citizens. Genosha was later overthrown and taken over by Magneto’s forces to create an all-mutant society — which sounds similar to what the Inner Circle of The Gifted would like to accomplish.
The show will also be using this season to introduce the Morlocks, a reclusive group of mutants who can’t or won’t blend in with human society. A mainstay of the X-Men universe, the Morlocks are another potential viewpoint, one which rejects both sides of the war.
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A civil war may never break out in the show in the same way that it did in the comics, but one way or another taking sides will definitely be a major theme of the season.
“Basically, the biggest thing this season is the polarization of the country around these issues of mutant rights, mutant refugees,” said Nix. “You know — is it racism to hate mutants, or is it self-preservation to hate mutants?”
The Gifted Season 2 will premiere on Tuesday, Sept. 25, at 8 p.m. ET/PT. Showrunner for the series is Matt Nix, and the cast includes Stephen Moyer as Reed Strucker, Amy Acker as Caitlin Strucker, Sean Teale as Eclipse/Marcos Diaz, Jamie Chung as Blink/Clarice Fong, Coby Bell as Jace Turner, Emma Dumont as Polaris/Lorna Dane, Blair Redford as Thunderbird/John Proudstar, Natalie Alyn Lind as Lauren Strucker, Percy Hynes White as Andy Strucker and Skyler Samuels as the Frost Sisters.