What are the obvious choices when doing a X-Men television show? The origin of Wolverine? Magneto during the Holocaust? Maybe even Storm during her days as a thief in Africa and becoming a goddess. Those are three popular characters that could have easily been used to make a TV show. Instead, the people developing the X-Men TV show might be going in a different route. Looks like we could possibly be getting and Hellfire Club and or a show about Professor Xavier's omega level son Legion. Pilots for both of these ideas are being made and this is an absolutely amazing idea.
People love Wolverine, Storm, and the other popular X-Men. They are and have been the poster child for the X-Men for decades. Honestly, without them or Cyclops, Nightcrawler, or Beast it's not likely that the franchise would have survived this long. But before these characters start getting stale, why not put forward a new group of characters to become the faces while the older ones can still be popular and have something else to boost the brand.
So, who is Legion and why should anyone be interested in him on any level? Well, honestly, you shouldn't really care about him at all. David Haller is not a character with a lot of depth. He is a guy who went crazy after his powers developed. With that said, this leaves a lot of wiggle room for writers to play with. David having mental issues is a good way to make him likeable and relatable. Seeing him go from a crazy loner villain type into a hero is a great story of redemption. If the actor that is picked can do a good job of mixing up the personalities David has in his head and while he's using his powers, it could make for great television.
Now where the Hellfire is concerned, this is not a group that should ever be portrayed as good people. They are the epitome of everything that the common person hates. They are rude, rich, and powerful. And powerful not just in they can buy and sell their way into any part of the world, but they also have great powers. Emma Frost can make people think, see, and do whatever she wants with her telepathy, Sebastian Shaw could probably take a punch from the Hulk, absorb the kinetic energy, and punch him right back, Donald Pierce has turned himself into a cyborg that he consistently upgrades and then there is Selene. Selene is a supernatural being that drains the life force of one person to extend the life of her own. She's been around since before the birth of Christ, so you can guess that she is good at what she does. These are only a some of the members of the Hellfire Club and there will probably be more. The Hellfire Club can be really demented story if they can get into the dominatrix, bondage, and sex that they use to bring in the wealthy and powerful.
The story of the Legion and The Hellfire Club can be used and played with because even though both have been around for a while, they aren't major players that require a certain story line to be followed. This will leave the comic book crowd ok with the story (ok maybe not ok with it) and new fans can just sit and enjoy a good story. All and all, it's not a bad choice of stories to tell. And by the way, the Hellfire Club story was predicted by yours truly.