Everyone is sick to death of the “it was all a dream” ending, where all the risks and emotional stakes add up to a whole bunch of nothing. But what about if it were in a show all about being unable to trust one’s own mind? Could a twist so hated be tolerable then? The new trailer for FX’s show Legion implies that maybe, just possibly, everything from the show’s first season didn’t happen.
Legion follow David Haller, an omega-level mutant who ends up in a mental facility. He slowly comes to find that he’s not insane, but rather a psychic alien parasite has been attempting to break down his mental defenses to take over his body. But did that really happen? As Lenny/Shadow King, played by Aubrey Plaza, comments that season 1 was just a delusion of the audience, but that season 2 is going to be “very, very real.”
Of course, this could all be a lie, meant to hype the audience and lead us on a wild goose chase, so to speak. Still, it might also denote that next season may not be a straight forward continuation of the story, questioning what did or did not happen. There’s not a ton of information on what’s coming next season, or even much of a glimpse at the storyline. Thus far, all we know is that the Shadow King is currently leeching off of Oliver Bird, a recently freed mutant scientist, but now even that may not be true. Quinton Boisclair and Navid Negahban have been cast as as the Devil with the Yellow Eyes and the Shadow King, respectively.
The show already used weird storytelling techniques, like showing events out of order, going in and out of people’s minds, and even bringing up characters and concepts that then disappear out of nowhere. To have them invalidate a whole season would, honestly, not even be that weird.
Legion Season 2 premieres on FX on April 3, 2018.
If you’re interested in hearing more about Legion, check out The Cine-Analyst Podcast episode on David Haller.
