“Legion” Brainstorm Session: David Haller’s Father

With Legion’s second episode giving us a glimpse at David Haller’s father, we only have more questions, not answers. Let’s try to figure this out.

Let’s all pretend for a moment that we know what’s going on in Legion.

At the bare minimum we have a mysterious war going on between two sides, who are fighting over one of the most powerful mutants in the world. We’re also watching that powerful mutant discover his true powers, his true personality… himself, really.

But from what the comics give us about David’s past, we’re even more confused. Sure, shows based on comics take some liberties with the source material. Understandably so.

Except that the one thing I’m sure we all bet on being true (or at least winked at) was the one thing that confused us more than ever in this last episode:

David Haller’s father.

Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier, copyright FOX Entertainment

In the comics, David is the offspring of Charles Xavier. While I doubt anyone thought we’d see Charles himself on Legion, I didn’t expect us to have any look at his father by the second episode.

But… might we still see him?

If there’s one thing that’s true about Legion, it’s that everything feels completely unexpected when it happens. Even if it makes perfect sense from a plot perspective.

In the memory painting, we never see his father’s face; we only hear his voice. It seems very odd that David is unable to produce a picture of his face, too. He also seemed extremely upset that he missed his father’s funeral. So this isn’t a one-and-done kind of dad; he’s stuck around for David’s life as much as he could.

David also explains that his father was an astronomer. I’m not sure what to make of that; my only comparison would be some thin tie to Cerebro and how it portrays minds throughout the world, almost like constellations.

He could also be a stepdad and perhaps David just doesn’t know it’s not his real dad. The lack of a British accent as well is a little disheartening.

Will we see any sort of glimpse at Professor X as David’s father in Legion? Maybe. It’s safe to say that if he pops up, it probably won’t be the Patrick Stewart version, but perhaps the James McAvoy.

These timelines are quite confusing.

Perhaps in the next episode, David will be able to paint a memory of his father’s face. And then we’ll really see just who his father is. But the question will still remain: is it his actual father or just a surrogate?