FX Head Expresses More Support for Powers

I mentioned last time that I'd scribbled into my datebook for the end of September the next iteration of the "Powers Is Still Alive" story, which seem to roll around with fascinating regularity every three months or so.

But perhaps things are moving faster now. It's only been a month, and already the clarion call has sounded from the mountaintops that this pilot, despite (a) having been provisionally rejected, (b) featuring cast members that have since moved on, and (c) having a showrunner who's taken on another, separate graphic novel adaptation, is (d) definitely still viable with both its creators and the network. The struggle to make this show happen is positively heroic, and extremely appropriate, somehow, to Powers's noir atmosphere and long-suffering protagonists.

FX president John Landgraf spoke at the Television Critics Association's summer press tour about his optimism for the network's adaptation of the Image/Icon comic series, without, infuriatingly, coming out and actually saying it definitely will happen.

Previous discussions of revamping the pilot to meet FX's take on the story have used the word "reshoots," which seemed to suggest that the pilot shot last year would be cannibalized alongside freshly shot material. But Landgraf is now talking about the network likely needing to "start from scratch"--though he believes that Jason Patric, cast as series lead Christian Walker, "may come back."

But Landgraf, though a die-hard fan of the project, has still not committed FX to actually pulling the trigger. He's still saying "if": "If we elect to move forward, I think we'll just go back and reshoot it with an entirely new cast," he said.

Still, this view from the top is an upgrade from the way Landgraf was talking half a year ago. "This is as difficult an adaptation as I've ever worked on," he told reporters in January, at the winter TCA. "Difficult adaptations interest me but this is a really hard one."

By the time Powers makes it to screen, it will already have a cult following. And that cult will have been quietly muttering the same mantra for the preceding however many years it took to actually make it happen: Have faith... This is how Star Trek started... Have faith...

Tags: Powers, John Landgraf Follow me on Twitter  |  Follow me on Facebook