Underworld Director Len Wiseman Joins Fox's The Gifted

Fox's upcoming X-Men spinoff series The Gifted has a new executive producer.

Best known for directing the first two installments in the Underworld franchise, Len Wiseman is set to join the upcoming series alongside creator and showrunner Matt Nix, Bryan Singer, Lauren Shuler Donner, Simon Kinberg and Marvel Television's Jeph Loeb and Jim Chory. Deadline reports that Wiseman will also direct the second episode of the series, "A New World," as part of his overall deal with 20th Century Fox TV.

The Gifted follows a suburban couple who, upon the sudden discovery that their children are mutants, find their lives dramatically changed. The series is set in the same general world where mutants and the X-Men exist, but isn't directly set in the same universe and the film series. Despite this, showrunner Nix has said that the show will not ignore the existence of the X-Men. Their disappearance is a vital mystery in the show.

The Gifted tells the emotional story of a suburban couple whose ordinary lives are rocked by the sudden discovery that their children possess mutant powers. Forced to go on the run from a hostile government, the family seeks help from an underground network of mutants and must fight to survive.

Set within the "X-Men" universe, the series stars Stephen Moyer (SHOTS FIRED, "True Blood"), Amy Acker ("Person of Interest"), Natalie Alyn Lind (GOTHAM) and Percy Hynes White ("Night at the Museum 3") as the STRUCKER family. Also featured in the series are Sean Teale ("Reign") as ECLIPSE/MARCOS DIAZ; Jamie Chung (GOTHAM) as BLINK/CLARICE FERGUSON; Emma Dumont ("Aquarius") as POLARIS/LORNA DANE; Blair Redford ("Satisfaction") as THUNDERBIRD/JOHN PROUDSTAR; and Coby Bell ("Burn Notice") as Sentinel Services Agent JACE TURNER. The series is written by Matt Nix ("Burn Notice"), directed by Bryan Singer (the "X-Men" franchise") and executive-produced by Nix, Singer, Lauren Shuler Donner and Simon Kinberg ("X-Men: Apocalypse," "X-Men: Days of Future Past") and Marvel's Jeph Loeb and Jim Chory.

The Gifted is premieres October 2 with a pilot episode directed by veteran X-Men movies director Bryan Singer. The Wiseman-directed episode will air a week later on October 9.