One big break leads to another. I have learned that Fargo Season 2 standout Rachel Keller has been cast as the female lead in Legion, FX’s X-Men-universe pilot from Fargo creator Noah Hawley, Bryan Singer, Marvel TV and FX Prods. The 23-year-old Keller, who landed her first major role as femme fatale Simone Gerhardt in Fargo, was a breakout and a fan favorite. I hear she also impressed Hawley and FX brass who moved on to cast her in her first leading role. As with any other Marvel project, FX, Marvel TV and talent reps would not comment.

Legion introduces the story of David Haller, based on the Marvel comics character Legion, the son of X-Men founder Charles Xavier. Since he was a teenager, David has struggled with mental illness. Diagnosed as schizophrenic, David has been in and out of psychiatric hospitals for years. But after a strange encounter with a fellow patient, he’s confronted with the possibility that the voices he hears and the visions he sees might be real. Keller will play the female lead, a scrappy, optimistic woman in her 20s. Details about her potential powers are unclear. There has been chatter about them possibly being tied to human touch, drawing parallels to such X-Men universe characters as Rogue and Spyke.

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Hawley wrote the pilot and serves as an executive producer with the film franchise’s director/producer Singer, producer Lauren Shuler Donner, writer/producer Simon Kinberg as well as Marvel TV’s Jeph Loeb and Jim Chory, John Cameron and Steve Blackman.