FOX's X-Men Series 'The Gifted' Canceled After Two Seasons

Now that Disney has taken over the properties of 20th Century Fox, fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe are excited to see characters like the X-Men, Fantastic Four and Deadpool back home at Marvel Studios. But that means the other Marvel Comics properties are becoming obsolete. The X-Men film franchise is ending with Dark Phoenix this summer, and it appears the Fox television series The Gifted is following suit, because FOX has canceled the series after two seasons.

News of The Gifted being canceled comes from Deadline. The report points out there's a chance the series could still be saved by Disney by being moved to Freeform or Hulu, where the Marvel's shows Cloak and Dagger and Runaways respectively have a home. But at the same time, there have been no real discussions about saving the show anywhere, so don't count on it.

The Gifted followed a suburban family forced to go on the run when the parents learn that their teenage son and daughter have mutant powers. They team up with an underground network of mutants and try to survive as they're pursued by government agents and assorted bad guys. But within the mutant group arose dissension, creating even more conflict. The series shared a tangential connection to the X-Men films by taking place in an alternate universe where the famous mutants have disappeared and no one knows why.

The cancellation of The Gifted shouldn't be surprising. While critics were liking the second season of the series more than the first, ratings dropped by about half in the second season. Since the 20th Century Fox Television series is now owned by Disney, it's not as valuable to the FOX network (which wasn't part of the Disney acquisition of 21st Century Fox properties). And since ratings were already low, it's not likely to improve by taking it somewhere else.

But even aside from the ratings dropping, surely Disney wants to reel in any Marvel Comics related projects that either aren't part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or don't have a home at Disney+. Since Disney already axed Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist and The Punisher, it was clear that the studio wanted to start fresh with a new slate of Marvel Studios shows at Disney+. And as we learned recently, they're doing that in a big way with shows like Loki, WandaVision, Falcon & Winter Soldier, and Marvel's first animated series What If.

For now, fans will have to wait and see what Marvel Studios plans to do with the X-Men and the large roster of mutant characters from Marvel Comics. They're too popular and valuable to let them lay dormant for long, so hopefully we'll hear something soon.