Though it looks like there won’t be an X-Men 4, the X-Men franchise will continue to live on in a series of spin-offs. We already know Fox is planning spin-offs featuring Wolverine and Magneto, but now it looks like they may have another in development as well.

DarkHorizons has picked up a story from BlackBookMag, in which they interview Josh Schwartz, the creator and producer of such shows as Chuck and The O.C.. Schwartz claims he’s been hired to write an X-Men spin-off script, one which caters to his particular talent for glossy teen angst.

The movie will be the oft rumored mutant teen flick, centering around kids attending the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning. This might actually be a good idea… if they hadn’t needlessly killed of Professor X in X3. I’d love a mutant film with Patrick Stewart in his wheel chair playing mentor to a bunch of upstart, hormonal teens with godlike powers. Sadly, it’s unlikely they could get Picard back, even if hey hadn’t already killed him off. Stewart has better things to do.

There’s some history in the X-Men comic world to back up the notion of a young X-Men spin-off. Comics like the “New Mutants” and “Generation X” have in the past chronicled the adventures of teenage mutants. And of course they’ve already established younger characters in the films they could use. Teenage mutants like Jubilee and Shadowcat have made significant cameos. In fact, it’s sort of surprising this hasn’t happened before now.