Based on a fictional organization made up of wealthy elites known to be the villains in X-Men comic books, Hellfire was left behind while another X-Men-inspired series took the reigns on Fox, The Gifted, according to Comicbook.
Hellfire was supposed to be based on the Hellfire Club as seen in the movie X-Men: First Class. who were villains in the X-Men comics as enemies of the mutant superhero team, X-Men. For the fans who are disappointed, there is an explanation.
Comicbook reported that producer Lauren Shuler Donner told Entertainment Weekly, “It was too many characters and not enough depth of character.”
It appears that the characters who were a part of that club of villains seemed too much alike with not much difference and interest to be noticed or able to overcome those barriers with such little time. It was further noted that Hellfire felt too much like a movie with its concept and did not manage to fit in with the creators’ schedules.
Fox Television Chairman and CEO Dana Walden explained to /Film, “We did see an early draft of Hellfire and there was a lot of work to be done. Manny and Evan (producers of the Fox series 24 and co-creators of Hellfire) were getting very busy with the new 24. At a certain point we all regrouped, together with Simon Kinberg and Bryan Singer (producers in the X-Men film franchise) and Lauren Shuler Donner and Jeph Loeb at Marvel and really made a decision. I would say if there is anything about Hellfire that was not ideal for us, it felt like a show that wanted to live as a feature rather than really taking advantage of what television does best: exploring relationships and characters and smaller moments. It doesn’t mean it can’t feel like a big show but Hellfire felt more like another installment of the features.”
Clearly, it appeared that Hellfire felt too much like another movie installment of the X-Men franchise.
However, The Gifted was given a different approach as creator Matt Nix worked with this show.
Walden described, “It’s about an average family who encounters this extraordinary world and children who have mutant powers and they end up on the run, so it’s a little bit underground railroad in terms of a storytelling spine.”
Even though Hellfire is on the back-burner, The Gifted currently airs Mondays at 10/9c on Fox.