Getty ImagesDan Stevens is getting ready to return to TV in a role that will find him hated and feared. That's an X-Men reference. The Downton Abbey veteran has signed on to star in FX's Legion pilot, based on the character from Marvel's X-Men comic books.
Parks and Recreation's Aubrey Plaza and Fargo veterans Jean Smart and Rachel Keller join the Stevens in the project from Fargo's TV mastermind Noah Hawley.
In Legion, Stevens will play David, a diagnosed schizophrenic who is described as a "haunted man" and is in the process of "trying to find his way back to sanity." He's about to give up until he meets the girl of his dreams. Plaza plays Lenny, David's pal, who has a past with drugs and alcohol, but is ready for her life to turn around. She has "likeable energy of the impossible optimist despite her rough demeanor." Plaza playing an optimist?! Smart will play a nurturing and demanding therapist and Keller is Syd, a street smart woman who still believes in happily ever after.
In the X-Men comics, David Haller is the son of Professor Charles Xavier. Each of his various personas controls different superpowers.
Stevens was last on TV with Downton Abbey where he played Matthew Crawley. Plaza did seven seasons as April Ludgate on Parks and Recreation and recently popped up on Criminal Minds. Smart's past TV roles include the aforementioned Fargo and Designing Women, Samantha Who?, Frasier and 24.
Fargo's Hawley is writing the script and serving as executive producer alongside Lauren Shuler Donner, Bryan Singer, Simon Kinberg, Jeph Loeb, Jim Chory and John Cameron.
Production on the Legion pilot is set to begin in March.