'Legion' Season 1 Finale: Everything The Last Episode Set Up For Season 2

The first season of Noah Hawley's Legion, possibly the most inventive superhero TV series of all time, has come to a close. It's been a wild ride, one that left us sharing in the experience of Dan Stevens's David Haller - what's real, and what isn't? But gradually the shadows of David's mind have been explored (literally), and the truth has come to light.

So where do we go from here? The 10-episode-long Season 2 will be a very different show, filming in Los Angeles rather than Vancouver - partly for financial reasons. But regardless of location, the show's set to continue blazing a trail...

The world is in terrible danger.

The Shadow King is clearly one of the most powerful mutants in the history of the world, a psychic parasite that can dwell within the minds of others. For years the creature has secreted itself in David's mind, leeching his power, and now it's finally free. Worse - it's taken over the mind of Oliver Bird, Mrs. Bird's husband, himself a powerful psychic and an absolute genius. As Oliver drives away, music plays ominously - celebrating the Shadow King's relentless desire for power.

As Noah Hawley told Deadline, we can expect Season 2 to switch up the narrative quite a bit:

"You know, my goal is always that the first season would be about fighting the enemy within and, you know, learning about this entity that was inside of David and about getting it out of David, and Season 2 will be about then the enemy without and this entity now we know is a person."

The Shadow King is the realization of the World Coalition's greatest fear; a mutant who has realized that it is a god, and now desires to live in the fullness of its ambition. Chapter 8 ended with an alliance between the mutants and those who have hunted them for years; but the truce will be an uneasy one, with each fearful of the other. No doubt the Shadow King will exploit this.

We can expect Season 2 to dive deep into the mystery of David's parentage. Melanie Bird's mutant group is evidently somehow connected to Charles Xavier; her group know of the Shadow King, and he's the only one who could have told them about the creature.

It's worth noting that the Shadow King has two motives, not just one. Yes, the creature desires power - but it also seeks bloody revenge against David's father, the one man who defeated it. No doubt the Shadow King will do its best to draw David out.

That said, Noah Hawley is playing a long game. As he comments:

"I don’t know about Season 2 but I know that there’s that story will need to be addressed at some point in the future. It’s not something that I want to shy away from, but I also want to make sure that when it’s time to tell that story, we can really tell it and not dance around it."

McAvoy or Stewart? It all depends on who's interested, and if Fox give the go-ahead.

The Mysterious Orb

Trust Noah Hawley to end things with a plot-twist! The end-credits scene of Chapter 8 turns the story on its head yet again, leaving David trapped inside a mysterious high-tech orb. Is this tied to Charles Xavier? Is there another player in this game, set to introduce themselves in Season 2?

As Noah Hawley explained to The Hollywood Reporter:

"If you keep the pressure on someone whose psychology has always been unstable, it's going to keep him from being able to really [heal]. Really, what he should do is go on a retreat for a year and just be one with nature and eat three meals a day and take walks in the woods and learn how to be a person, the way other people are persons. But he's not going to have that luxury, because he's onto the next crisis."

No healing for David - meaning the show can keep its surreal edge!

All in all, Legion Season 2 promises to be the next step in a thrilling journey. Noah Hawley's openly admitting that he's planned out the whole journey - he isn't sure how many seasons it's going to take, but Legion is a show with somewhere to go. Only increasing his workload, Hawley intends to have Legion Season 2 air at about the same time next year. Personally - I can't wait!

Sources: Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter