Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
It feels safe to say that we’re in a golden age of superhero adaptations. Whether you adore mainstream heroes like Captain America and Wonder Woman or gravitate toward lesser known teams like Big Hero Six, chances are there’s an excellent adaptation just waiting for you. Even in this crowded and super-powered environment, Fox’s take on the X-Men stands out.
The Gifted is another TV adaptation of misunderstood, hyper-powerful people, but the drama takes its subject matter in a different direction than we’re used to seeing. Rather than re-telling the now-familiar story about Professor Xavier’s school for gifted youngsters or the origin story of a certain claw-toting lone wolf, The Gifted watches more like a family drama with mutants. There are no X-Men to guide its central characters. There are just lost super-powered teenagers and adults struggling through their newfound powers while trying to balance what’s left of their normal lives. As a result, The Gifted watches more as a family drama with fun visuals than as another superhero show.
Decider had the chance to catch up with Jamie Chung and Emma Dumont, who play Blink and Polaris respectively. These stars spilled on the challenges of playing these characters, how much they love the X-Men, and what sets this show apart from the rest of Marvel’s ever-expanding universe.
“She’s tough. She’s aloof. She doesn’t want to engage,” Chung said when asked to describe her character. Clarice Fong or Blink is a sarcastic and reserved outsider with the ability to open up portals. Her purple hair, green eyes, and birthmarks make the character particularly distinctive. “[Blink] is so used to hiding her face or averting eyes because as soon as you lock eyes with her, you know that she’s a mutant. I think that there’s a roughness to her.”
Chung also noted that because Blink has such a memorable look, it’s easier for the actress to get into character. “A lot of thought went into how she’s going to look,” Chung said. “We decided to go for something a bit more subtle, but we still wanted the birthmarks.”
According to the actress, the team tried several different shades of green before finally settling on Blink’s eye color. Subtly was important for the character. “[The costume] was enough that sometimes she would blend in, and other times there’s really nothing she can do to hide her identity or the fact that she’s a mutant,” Chung said.
Determining how Blink opened her portals was also a challenge for the team. “It was like, am I using one hand? Am I using two? How physically straining is it?” she said. These discussions mirrored the learning curve tone built into the series. “What fascinated me most about this project is that it’s about a group of mutants who are just coming into their own, who are just getting into their powers and discovering them for the first time or struggling to control them. So it’s quite appealing because it’s fun to see a character at their full capacity in terms of powers, but it’s more interesting to me to see them grow into what they can possibly become.”
Dumont’s Polaris didn’t require as much preparation as Blink’s costume, but the actress revealed that it was a challenge for her to channel the character’s intensity. “The thing I love about Polaris is that on the shallow end I can be like ‘She’s a badass, she’s fierce, she’s hot, she does crazy shit, and she doesn’t care what people think of her. And she does whatever she wants despite the consequence,’” Dumont said. “But on the deeper side, she does suffer from mental illness, and she’s unmedicated.”
“She doesn’t know her family, and she has all of these missing holes in her heart. So there are two sides of her — the fun stuff and then the kind of dark stuff,” she said.
Dumont believes that The Gifted’s interpretation of the character is very similar to the comic’s version of the character. “She’s very stubborn and very set in her ways. She believes that right is right and wrong is wrong and don’t mess with her or she will ruin you. I don’t know if she’s going to end up ever trusting Reed [Stephen Moyer]. I know at some point they have to combine together, all of them do,” she said. “But forgiveness is not her best quality.”
The actress also addressed perhaps the most interesting element of her character — Polaris’ parentage. In the comics, Polaris is often the only remaining, natural-born daughter of frequent X-Men villain and occasional antihero, Magneto. “All I’m going to say is that Polaris, in our version, she’s a foster child. She doesn’t know who her real father is, and I really hope she gets to meet him,” Dumont said. “She’s got the powers. Let’s see if she’s a daddy’s girl.”
What makes X-Men such a continually interesting franchise is how the property frames its characters and stories to discuss otherness. When asked how she translated these complicated themes into her role as Blink, Chung pointed to her own life. “I’m a minority, and I’ve come across racism and prejudice, and you develop a thick skin,” she said. “The way Blink’s past was described to me by (show creator) Matt Nix is that she’s had something similar [happen to her] but like times a hundred. I can only imagine the kind of bullying that she had to endure growing up looking so different.”
According to Chung, the character’s inability to blend in with non-mutants has affected her personality. “There are repercussions to that. So she’s always been on the run, she doesn’t trust a lot of people. She’s independent,” Chung said. “There’s a bit of darkness to her, but I think she’s coped with humor and thick skin and her sass.”
Conversely, Dumont’s Polaris masks her insecurities with an over-the-top sense of confidence. “It’s interesting playing someone like this. She’s like so human but on the other side so not human at all, which is like a crazy place to get into,” Dumont said. “What I think is good about Polaris is that she’s just like super confident and that’s a confidence that maybe I don’t have in real life.”
Both actresses admitted to being huge fans of Marvel movies and shows. Chung listed the ‘90s X-Men cartoon series and X-Men: Days of Future Past as among one of her favorite Marvel adaptations. Dumont praised FX’s Legion, particularly Aubrey Plaza’s role on the show. However, both stars have one Marvel love in common — Logan.
“It was so grounded and kind of like our show,” Chung said of Logan. “You get to see [the X-Men] kind of integrated into society, but like it’s just kind of sad and gritty and grounded and real.”
“I’m going to say something — I cried. I cried when she turned the cross into an ax. I don’t cry often, but I think I shed one single tear,” Dumont said. “They have dark sides of their lives but they are just people but they happen to have this gift.”
Chung also praised Storm as being one of her favorite X-Men characters of all time. “She had one of the coolest powers, and you know, I grew up in San Francisco. I was always like ‘My god, if I could clear the fog and make it a sunny day,’” she said.
Dumont admitted that she was so obsessed with her character that she now owns every Polaris action figure. “We all have action figures. All of the offices are covered in like X-Men stuff,” she said. She also revealed getting into a good-natured argument with her co-star Blair Redford about their competing X-Men love. According to Dumont, Redford once told her that he owned every X-Men comic. “And I’m like ‘No you don’t, you can’t own every comic.’ And he’s like ‘I own most of them.’ It’s like nuts,” she said.
However, one of the highlights about working on The Gifted has been the opportunity to work with legendary X-Men director Bryan Singer, who directed the show’s first episode. “It’s exciting but it’s also quite intimidating. You know, we call him the X-Men guru. If there’s any questions or concerns, he’s the man to go to,” Chung said. “It’s fun but then also you show up on set and because his enthusiasm is infectious you’re like, you’re no longer nervous because you know you’re in good hands and you also know he’s just as excited about this as you are.”
Dumont also praised the show for being so grounded and emotional that even her mom could enjoy it. “We’re not saving the world. It’s just everyday struggles, which is really relatable, and who doesn’t love that?” the actress said.
“We all know that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and we’re not taking it for granted,” Dumont said. “It’s a great universe. We all feel so privileged to be part of it, and we’re all nerds.”
New episodes of The Gifted premiere on Fox Mondays at 9 p.m. ET.
