Fox, who owns the screen rights to Marvel's X-Men property, has said more on its rumored plans to start a widespread universe for the mutants, crossing over from the big to small screen – much like Marvel has accomplished with Agent Carter and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Company chairman Dana Walden offered an update on the TV spin-off's progress, which was first rumored earlier this year. "[For] X-Men, we're in negotiations with Marvel," she told THR. "We're hopeful we'll be able to announce something soon. We're not closed on a deal yet but it's something we're definitely pursuing."

The characters from the X-Men franchise are with Fox on the feature side so we won't be including Marvel characters that are at ABC with Disney. This will be exclusively the franchise as it has existed at Fox."

The report suggest the deal is a long way from completion. Marvel still has the final say on whether or not it can move forward, so Fox will have to bust out the big guns to sway the Disney-owned company.

If it ever moves beyond that point, Star Trek 3 scribes Patrick MacKay and J.D. Payne will write the show - which Walden describes as a "long-running series" - along with 24's Evan Katz and Manny Coto, who will both act as showrunners.

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