Fans of the popular FX show, Legion will be pleased to find out that Harry Lloyd, Jeremy Baines in Paul Cornell’s two-part Doctor Who story, Human Nature/ The Family of Blood, has been cast in the third and final season of Legion – as Professor Xavier.
The appearance of Professor X, Legion’s father, has long been teased in the show, all the way back from Season One.
Legion is based on the character of the same name made famous in the X-Men comic books, most famous for kicking off The Age of Apocalypse event back in the early 1990s. Legion went back in time to stop Magneto from becoming the big-bad for the X-Men with the intention of killing him. But Xavier was killed instead, which paved the way for the ancient mutant evil, Apocalypse to take over almost all of America.
Whether or not The Age of Apocalypse will be referenced or its themes will feature heavily in the third season hasn’t been revealed yet. But we doubt it.
Harry Lloyd is going into the role following on from successful appearances in other hit shows including Game of Thrones, Counterpart, Manhattan, and Wolf Hall.
For us Doctor Who fans though, he will always be remembered in his role as Jeremy Baines who was used by the Family of Blood as a vessel for their son. Lloyd put in an excellent performance in that story, going from the horrid schoolboy to the evil Son of Mine in a brilliant turn. Arguably his best moment in that story was one shared with the school-headmaster concerning the events of 1913. It is a chilling scene, thanks to Lloyd’s performance and is one of the standout moments of Series 3.
Though his casting was revealed through Twitter, what hasn’t yet been revealed is how his character will factor into the show. Famous for not showing the audience what is real and what isn’t, maybe Xavier will appear through dream sequences or only be in David Haller’s mind? Also cast is Legion’s mother, Gabrielle, played by Stephanie Corneliussen (Mr Robot).
With Legion set to return for its third and final season on FX sometime in 2019, Harry Lloyd will be joining a formidable cast lead by Dan Stevens in the titular role.
