Fox’s X-Men series The Gifted has officially been canceled by the network, but it is still rumored that Disney could save it.
In the wake of the huge Fox and Disney merger and the announced launch of Disney’s exclusive streaming service, Disney+, it seems that Fox has opted to cancel The Gifted. The show has run for two seasons and was set in the X-Men universe.
The Gifted followed a suburban family that has their entire foundation rocked when their children begin to show mutant powers. Thanks to a government that is hostile towards mutants, the family is forced to flee their home and they ultimately join with an underground group of mutants fighting for freedom. Despite the exciting premise and solid actors like Stephen Moyer and Amy Acker making out the cast, Fox still axed the show.
However, Deadline reports that though no official conversations have happened, it’s possible that the show could be saved by Disney. Disney currently has Marvel shows on Disney-owned Freeform and Hulu (Marvel shows on Disney+ come from the Disney movie division), so there are several other outlets that Disney could use to place the show.
After all, reviews for The Gifted have been pretty strong. The second season scored higher on Rotten Tomatoes than the first, earning an 85% rating on the site.
Ratings-wise, it wasn’t a barn-burner for Fox. As Deadline explains, Season 2 of the show averaged 1.1 adults 18-49 rating in Live+7, which was about half of its Season 1 average (2.0), and 3.3 million viewers. The show reportedly does well in online viewings, but linear ratings are quite important to Fox, especially since it no longer has ownership of the series since the merger.
Ultimately, the decision to cancel the show came down to low linear ratings. However, now that Disney has control of the show, we’ll just hope they find a home for The Gifted on another Disney-owned network.