The Gifted Showrunner Reveals The X-Men Comic That Inspired TV Series

During the Fox presentation at the Television Critics Association summer press tour Tuesday, creator and showrunner for the upcoming drama The Gifted, Matt Nix, gave some new information about the series.

In addition to clarifying that the disappearance of the X-Men will be a central mystery in the show's plot, Nix revealed that show takes its thematic inspiration from the District X comic book series.

The District X series, set in a fictional New York City neighborhood in primarily populated by mutants called Mutant Town, followed mutant and FBI agent Lucas Bishop who was assigned to investigate the rising crime rates in the neighborhood.

"I looked a lot at some of the more obscure runs that didn't deal with the central superhero mythology. I loved District X, which was just about a district in New York. It's where the mutants are. You're following around Bishop, who's a cop," Nix said.

He also explained that while District X was a police procedural, The Gifted isn't directly based on the comic book series and is instead about the mutants and their interaction with society.

"The show is not a procedural at all, but it was seeing mutants in society, dealing with crime, drugs, their relationships to each other," Nix said. "We didn't take any characters from it. It was one of my favorites."