True Blood's Stephen Moyer Is Joining Marvel's X-Men Universe

hbo true blood bill compton stephen moyer

Superheroes are all the rage on the small screen nowadays, and just about every broadcast network has at least one comic-based series in the lineup. Fox has a project in the works that will give viewers a look into the world of the X-Men, and it could be a brilliant new take on the existing superhero genre on TV. Now, we finally know the actor who will star in the new series. Stephen Moyer of True Blood fame will tackle the lead role.

Stephen Moyer will play Reed, who is a father who discovers that his children possess powers that make them targets for a government that intends to stamp out mutants. When Reed and his wife learn of their children's abilities, they are forced to go on the run. Reed's life will be turned upside down as he must leave behind his life as an ambitious attorney working at the D.A.'s office and a dad trying to give his family a good life. Deadline reports that the plot will thicken even further when he and his family encounter an underground network of mutants also on the run from the government.

Reed is the third character to be cast for the new show, which has yet to receive an official title from Fox. Satisfaction's Blair Redford signed on to play a Native American mutant named Sam, who is the leader of the underground network and may or may not be an adaptation of the X-Men character known as Forge. Jamie Chung of Once Upon a Time and Gotham also landed a role on the Marvel series. She'll play Clarice "Blink" Fong, who has to start over when she develops the mutant ability to create portals.

The new Fox series clearly isn't going to be the same kind of X-Men project as fans have seen on the big screen in recent years, but creator Matt Nix has confirmed that the show takes place in the same universe as the films, and legendary X-Men movie director Bryan Singer is helming the pilot, so there will be some connections. We'll have to wait and see just how far they go. Unfortunately, Fox has not yet announced a timetable for the X-Men show, so we may be waiting a while.

Stephen Moyer is best known for his work as the vampire Bill Compton on all seven seasons of True Blood, which came to an end on HBO back in 2014. He returned to the small screen in 2015 for the short-lived The Bastard Executioner on FX, then moved to Fox to join the cast of the event series Shots Fired, which is set to debut in March. It should be interesting to see him flex his acting muscles in a new genre.

Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for the latest in TV news, and don't forget to check out our midseason TV premiere schedule to see what you can watch while you wait the new X-Men series to hit the airwaves.

Laura Hurley
Senior Content Producer

Laura turned a lifelong love of television into a valid reason to write and think about TV on a daily basis. She's not a doctor, lawyer, or detective, but watches a lot of them in primetime. CinemaBlend's resident expert and interviewer for One Chicago, the galaxy far, far away, and a variety of other primetime television. Will not time travel and can cite multiple TV shows to explain why. She does, however, want to believe that she can sneak references to The X-Files into daily conversation (and author bios).