NYCC 2017: Polaris Has Bipolar Disorder In The Gifted
One of the hardest things to do in comic book adaptations is be 100% faithful to the source material. They try to do that, but some things are better left on the comic book pages, while others are easily incorporated. For the new show The Gifted, they pull from a lot of aspects of the X-Men universe. And though they have their own twists on things (see: Spider Sentinels) they are staying faithful to the character origins of established characters.
For example, Polaris is one of the Mutant Underground, and has already been confirmed to be a child of Magneto. However, the other key part of her comic character is that she has Bipolar Disorder, and actress Emma Dumont confirmed that this is a part of the show:
“100% that’s something we’re already doing. You’re totally correct, she has bipolar disorder. She’s unmedicated, she’s not being treated for it, I don’t even know if in our show she knows she has it — but she definitely does. She has major bouts of mania and very, very low times of depression…I think it’s really rad to see [someone] mentally ill — also a woman — be a hero.”
The Gifted airs Mondays on Fox.