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Atlanta creator Donald Glover and his brother Stephen Glover are back in business with FX in a major way, having signed on to write, executive produce and serve as showrunners of an untitled animated DEADPOOL series from Marvel Television and FX Productions.
FXX has placed a series order for 10 episodes of the irreverent action-comedy, which will also be executive produced by Marvel’s Jeph Loeb and Jim Chory. Marvel TV is producing the series in association with FXP and ABC Signature Studios.
While I’d typically assume that this animated iteration of Deadpool would exist in a completely different universe than the Deadpool played by Ryan Reynolds on the big screen, the truth is that nothing is out of bounds in the world of Deadpool, and I wouldn’t put it past either Deadpool to reference the other with some sly wink or violent nod. You just never know with Deadpool, and that’s the way he likes it.
Donald Glover’s impressive juggling of Atlanta and Deadpool for FX (not to mention thriving film and music careers) mirrors that of Noah Hawley, who created Fargo for the network before launching the comic book adaptation Legion to great success.
“Donald Glover is an incredibly gifted and versatile artist who’ll bring the untitled Marvel’s Deadpool series to life with the same intense, singular vision as his breakout hit Atlanta,” said FX’s Nick Grad. “With the success of Legion, we’re looking forward to again partnering with Marvel Television to create a series that is bold, striking and entirely original.”
“How much more fun could this be? Deadpool, Donald and FX – the perfect fit for the Merc with the Mouth! We’re thrilled that our relationship with FX that started with Legion continues with what is sure to be a groundbreaking show in adult animation,” added Loeb.
Donald Glover is currently filming the untitled Han Solo movie, in which he plays Lando Calrissian, and after that he’ll play Simba in Jon Favreau’s The Lion King, both of which are at Disney. He’ll soon be seen as a mysterious character in Spider-Man: Homecoming.
Stephen Glover served as a staff writer on Atlanta, writing four of the first season’s ten episodes. He also wrote music and lyrics for the show with Donald, who moonlights as the rapper Childish Gambino.
Thanks to the Glover siblings’ combined creative efforts, the first season of Atlanta won a Golden Globe and was the highest-rated comedy in FX Networks’ history. Season two is tentatively slated to debut in early 2018 on FX.
WME and attorney Lev Ginsburg represent the Glover brothers, while Donald is also repped by MGMT Entertainment.
Jeff Sneider | Editor in Chief
