Atlanta was a hit for Donald Glover and FX — immediately recognized as one of the best, if not the best, new comedy series of 2016. With its pairing with Glover’s 2016 Childish Gambino album Awaken My Love!, it reinforced the notion that he’s one of the cleverest and most incisive multi-hyphenates working in Hollywood. FX quickly capitalized on their existing relationship with him, drafting an exclusive deal with him back in January (not dissimilar to the overall deal they also have with Louis C.K.), which would see him developing assorted projects for FX productions across their networks and streaming services. And news of the latest part of that deal is upon us: he’s developing an animated Deadpool series alongside his brother Stephen Glover (a writer on Atlanta.)
Entertainment Weekly reports that a 10-episode first season of the series — which doesn’t yet have a title — has been ordered by the network for FXX. It’ll be FX’s second delve into the Marvel world, following Noah Hawley’s Legion. Nick Grad, the original programming president at FX, said of the announcement:
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. 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.
The Glover brothers will be the showrunners, executive producers, and writers for the series, according to Variety. The recent Deadpool film incidentally made $800 million internationally on a surprisingly small budget — so there’s clearly a vast cultural interest in the caustic, scarred antihero.