‘The Gifted’: Skyler Samuels Teases Frost Sisters’ Comics Origin, Emma Frost Connection

The Gifted star Skyler Samuels is teasing a tragic, comics accurate backstory for the Frost Sisters and one that could connect to a major X-Men character.

While many of the most popular mutants from the Marvel universe are earmarked for the X-Men movies and therefore unavailable for use on The Gifted, the FOX television series has still integrated them into the show’s world, history, and characters. Thunderbird lives with the weight of being chosen by the X-Men to help lead the Mutant Underground, while Polaris struggles with whether to walk the same path of her father, Magneto.

The Frost Sisters – Esme, Phoebe and Sophie, all played by Samuels – have a similar lineage in the comics. They are the clones and students of the powerful telepathic mutant Emma Frost. Before joining the X-Men, Emma was the White Queen of the Hellfire Club. Considering the Frosts’ current allegiance to the Inner Circle, it seems they’re following in Emma’s footsteps.

During a visit to the Atlanta set of The Gifted, ComicBook.com asked Samuels if there could be references to Emma Frost and her connection to the triplets in future episodes of series. She revealed that the first hints will come in tonight’s episode, “iMprint.”

“Like with Emma’s [Dumont, who plays Polaris] sort of nod to dad, we definitely have a nod to mom for the Frost Sisters,” Samuels says. “It’s unspoken but very evident.

“In episode six of season two, we open in the flashback of the little Frosts – I call them the snowflakes, the little Frosts, the little snowflakes – and we meet them when they’re young and we realize they didn’t necessarily start out as three and we get a sense of sort of their bizarre upbringing, what it was sort of like to be them and how they got to where they are now.”

What does Samuels mean by “they didn’t necessarily start as three”? In the Marvel Comics universe, there were originally five Frost Sisters, or Stepford Cuckoos as they were called: Esme, Sophie, Phoebe, Mindee, and Celeste. Perhaps this is a hint that three Frost Sisters introduced in The Gifted so far aren’t the only ones to exist in this version of the X-Men’s universe.

Samuels also discussed how the Frost Sisters’ tragic history affects their present situation.

“I think it definitely sheds light on why they’re so deranged and a little bit ruthless, but I think it also really sort of drives home their hunger for a maternal figure, which is why Reeva is so important to them,” Samuels says. “I think she fills the role of the mom they didn’t get to have. But I also think for Esme, personally, we start to see throughout this season that she sort of has these like maternal cravings, especially watching Polaris with the baby. I think she starts to realize that that’s something that she missed and something she wants more of, and she sort of dedicates her lack of mom to her relationship to Polaris’ baby.”

You can see the Inner Circle in action in an exclusive clip from tonight’s episode of The Gifted.

Are you excited to learn more about the Frost Sisters on The Gifted? Let us know in the comments!

The Gifted airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on FOX.