‘The Gifted’ Season 2 to Feature New Villains, New Factions, and a Mutant Childbirth

Mutants with deadly agendas, a mutant baby born during turbulent times, family, lovers, and friends torn apart by different ideologies—these are but some of the challenges our Mutant Underground heroes—and anti-heroes—will have to face in Season 2 of The Gifted. Set in Marvel’s X-Men universe, the Fox mutant drama was one of the most compelling action shows that debuted last year.

When we last saw them in the Season 1 finale, the Mutant Underground members were at loggerheads after their Atlanta HQ was destroyed as each has their own notion on what the best route for survival is. This resulted in the likes of Polaris (Emma Dumont), Andy Strucker (Percy Hynes White), and Sage (Hayley Lovitt) defecting to join The Hellfire Club, while Eclipse (Sean Teale), Thunderbird (Blair Redford), Blink (Jamie Chung), and the remaining Struckers—Reed, Caitlin and Lauren (Stephen Moyer, Amy Acker, and Natalie Alyn Lind, respectively)—opting to remain together as a unit.

Subtitled "Dawn of the Mutant Age," Season 2 will take place six months down the road at a new location outside Washington DC as a frantic Eclipse and company search for their former members, especially the now very pregnant Polaris.

Judging by the explosive scenes in The Gifted's Comic-Con teaser trailer, here are five subplots we can look forward to in its sophomore season.

1. A New Hellraiser at the Hellfire Club

As if the scheming Frost Sisters (all played by Skyler Samuels) aren’t malicious enough, the Hellfire Club will have a new sinister leader in its ranks. Reeva Payge (Grace Byers), a powerful mutant who can scramble minds, deems mutants who believe in “the failed dream of the X-Men” (that is, to peacefully co-exist with humans) as enemies and has no qualms of using violent means against humankind or her own kind alike to protect the Club’s interests. With Polaris and Andy now part of the mutant terrorist organization, the devastation which Reeva can orchestrate is seriously mind-blowing.

2. Polaris is going to pop.

The pregnant Polaris is all ready to pop and is getting very emotional, which aggravates her powers so much that she can cause a blackout in an entire city. Without her partner Eclipse by her side—hopefully, he can miraculously make it in time—it appears the delivery of her baby will be anything but smooth. As Emma Dumont informed Entertainment Weekly, “We saw at the end of last season that the baby really affected her powers and made her stronger. We don’t know what this labor will do.” What we do know is that the mutant baby delivery in The Gifted will be the first-ever in Marvel’s screen history, and that alone is worth a watch!

3. A New Truly Underground Mutant Faction

Thunderbird and Blink's romantic relationship will be off and running in Season 2. The other new development for the pair is that they will meet up with The Morlocks, a mutant community that dwells in underground sewers and who have their own ideology on how to survive in the current world. While her character Blink is fascinated with this new group, Jamie Chung told TV Guidethat Thunderbird will be preoccupied with other matters as more details of his past are revealed in Episode 3. Here’s hoping we will learn just why the X-Men chose the ex-Marine to be the leader of the Mutant Underground and whether he is able to set up another HQ anytime soon.

4. Reed Strucker displays mutant powers.

What was really refreshing about The Gifted is that its main focus is on a human couple, Reed and Caitlin Strucker, who have to make great sacrifices for their teenage mutant children to ensure their survival. In Season 2, things get really interesting when Reed starts exhibiting mutant powers not unlike that of daughter Lauren and son Andy (who in turn possess similar powers to that of their great-grandfather and great-grandaunt, notorious mutant terrorists Andrea and Andreas von Strucker). In Season 1, Reed learnt from his estranged father that he too has the X-Gene but that his mutant powers were successfully suppressed by his old man when Reed was still a child. Well, hanging around with mutants arguably triggered his inner mutant. Let's see if Reed will learn to harness his new-found powers, or will he keep it under wraps from everyone, especially wife Caitlin who, already flustered with Andy leaving the flock, now has to deal with yet another mutant being in the family.

5. Mutant Hate Group Returns

Season 2 will also see the return of The Purifiers, a mutant hate group who wear outfits with white crosses and first seen harassing Blink and her then-boyfriend in Season 1 Episode 11. “One of the things I can say about the Purifiers is they're just regular people, a lot of them,” said The Gifted creator and showrunner, Matt Rix, to comicbook.com. “It's a thing that can exist everywhere. It's not the Sentinel Services. You can work at a supermarket and be a Purifier. That's a really interesting avenue to explore so that the show is not simply an endless battle between the Sentinel Services and the Underground.”

The Gifted Season 2 premieres on September 25 at 8 PM, E.T. on Fox.

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