Nathaniel Halpern on How His Work on Legion Influenced Tales From the Loop

Tales From the Loop arrived on Amazon Prime Video earlier this month, bringing to life a completely unique science fiction series. The live-action series follows the residents of the town of Mercer, Ohio, as they come to terms with the unexplained and otherworldly things that are caused by a giant particle accelerator called “The Loop”. The episodes that result from there are surprising and science fiction-filled at nearly every turn, thanks in part to the work of the series’ creator and writer, Nathaniel Halpern. Halpern is no stranger to that kind of cerebral, otherworldly sci-fi, as he previously served as a writer and co-executive producer on Legion, the FX series inspired by the X-Men character of the same name. ComicBook.com recently got a chance to speak to Halpern about Tales From the Loop, where we asked if the show was influenced in any way by his work on Legion. As Halpern put it, that was the case in multiple ways — both in familiarizing him to the way that television works, and in carrying over a sort of narrative playfulness.

“Not in a creative way. I would say in a very practical [way],” Halpern explained. “Legion was this wonderful experience for me, of really learning the machinery of making television and understanding what’s possible. So I was prepared to step up and have this be my first show. I would say Legion just was a big influence, truthfully in that regard, as a producer-writer. And understanding what it is to make television, how difficult it is, and being able to problem-solve.”

“I would also say, Legion has that playfulness of “anything is possible”, and there’s always something new around every corner,” Halpern added. “I think that’s something I embrace in general, always wanting that sense of wonder to be kept alive. That’s probably another thing that crosses over between the two.”

Legion wrapped up in August of last year, after three seasons of an incredibly-unique approach to the superhero genre.

“It’s a remarkable show created and visualized by an extraordinary filmmaker. Noah carried this from the start — told us how he wanted the show to begin and how he wanted it to end — and we’ve respected that,” former Marvel TV exec Jeph Loeb previously explained. “Having FX as our partner made it very exciting as well from both a creative and marketing standpoint.”

“As to the future, that world and those characters will always be there,” Loeb added. “It’s our hope that Noah will want to return to them is any capacity he thinks is worth telling. FX remains a huge priority for us because we can tell those unexpected stories there and John Landgraf is something of a visionary himself. They ‘get’ us and we ‘get’ them. We like all of that.”

Season 1 of Tales From the Loop is now available to stream on Amazon Prime.