James Tucker, on how the Legion cartoon got started

Here's another part of a phone interview with James Tucker, Legion animated show producer, as conducted by Voices from Krypton (sister site to Justice League on Film, which hosted the first part). In this segment, Tucker explains why the show finally got the go-ahead when it did, after all those failed attempts in years past that I discussed here a couple years ago.

Tucker: There have been Legion developments over the years, and they never... they've always gotten stalled, and I think the only reason the Legion got the green light this time was because Superman was going to be in it and there was a tie-in to the then-upcoming movie "Superman Returns". So the Legion itself as a concept is kind of a hard sell to an audience because you don't have Superman, and there aren't any characters in it who have any broad-based appeal to the average non-fanboy audience. And so in this day and age it's hard to sell an original cast of characters, you know, it's just a hard sell, especially when the market has to rely on toy sales, you know it's just harder. If I had my druthers, it'd be nice to do a Legion... and actually we do have a Legion story this season which won't have Superman in it. But you need him in it, you need the name recognition or you won't have a show.