FX and Legion creator Noah Hawley has confirmed that the trippy X-Men TV show will return for season 2 this April. The series tells the story of David Haller (Dan Stevens), a mutant whose telekinetic and psychic abilities lead him to believe he is mentally unstable.

Easily the most visually audacious comic book TV show of all time, Legion’s first season was a fun, terrifying excursion through the lens of the kind of mutants who don’t put on spandex and fight supervillains with regularity. The show was largely populated with more offbeat characters like David’s love interest Syd Barrett (Rachel Keller), a mutant who trades bodies with anyone she touches, and Carry/Kerry Loudermilk (Bill Irwin and Amber Midthunder), two separate people who usually inhabit the same body. The first season’s breakout performance came from Parks & Recreation star Aubrey Plaza, who played both David’s institutionalized friend Lenny Busker and the show’s primary villain, the Shadow King. Plaza’s dynamic, unnerving performance was the engine of the show’s groundbreaking experimentation with form and style, making Legion something much closer to the realm of prestige shows like Mr. Robot and The Leftovers than the more traditional comic book hijinks of Arrow or The Gifted.

Fans of the adventurous show won’t have to wait long for the second chapter. During FX’s presentation at the 2018 TCA press tour, Hawley confirmed the show will be returning this April, though he didn’t offer a specific premiere date or any firm information about the season’s plot.

That’s likely for the best; part of Legion’s appeal was the fact that it was one of the most unpredictable shows on television, with episodes taking excursions into the psychic realm of the past with essentially no warning, and with the ever present suspicion that David was a deeply untrustworthy narrator, to the point it was difficult to pin down what historical era the show even took place in for the majority of its first season. We do know season two will eschew the now common “big bad” structure, sticking with the Shadow King as the primary antagonist, who has escaped David’s mind and now resides inside Oliver Bird (Jemaine Clement), the powerful psychic who is also the husband of David’s ally Melanie Bird (Jean Smart).

It will also be interesting to see if the show expands on what was all but confirmed in the show’s first season and is canonically true in the comics – David is the son of Charles Xavier. Hawley has said in the past the show is unconnected to the X-Men movies but that he still intended to explore David’s connection to Xavier as the series progresses. Even without Professor X, there are plenty of reasons to be excited for a second round of Legion.


Legion season 2 premieres April 2018 on FX.

Source: FX