New Insight Shared on The Upcoming X-MEN '97 Animated Series - "There is Great Love and Affection and Respect"
As you know, Disney and Marvel are reviving the classic 90s X-Men cartoon series. The new show is titled X-Men ‘97 and it will pick up where the original show left off. On top of that, several cast members from the original series returned.
We have some new details and insight to share on the series thanks to consulting producers Eric and Julia Lewald. They previously worked on the original series as writers and producers. Eric was also showrunner on the series. They recently gave an interview with Justin Underwood (Spideyjeu09 on YouTube), and it’s there they opened up a bit about the show.
Eric Lewald said: "They want it to be an extension [of X-Men: The Animated Series]. Whoever it is doing this new show is going to make it their own, no matter who is involved in it. There is great love and affection and respect from an entire group of people that are doing this show, starting at the top with Beau DeMayo, who's the showrunner."
On top of DeMayo (The Witcher, The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf), Jake Castorena is also working on the series as a supervising director, with Charley Feldman as supervising producer.
Lewald went on to say: "I believe they're looking at 10 episodes for the first season that's going to come out mid-next year. They're starting it soon after ours ended... 'Where is [Professor X?]'"
At the end of the original series, Empress Lilandra took a gravely wounded Professor Xavier into outer space to be cured by the Shi'Ar Empire. The new show starts with Xavier's disappearance and will "build off of that.”
Lewald added: "They could have just said, 'We're just going to do a new show.' We have friends that were part of other very successful shows, and when they get rebooted, not a phone call, not a card, not a bit of recognition, just, 'We're going to do a new show.’ In this case, they were all nice and respectful enough. We said, 'It's your show. We're here if there's a red flag,' but we're on for that, or maybe some ideas of things we'd like to see. But really, it's their show. You can tell by the design. It's the same but slightly modernized, slightly a bit more beautiful, five times the money spent on it. Not that we're bitter (laughs)."
It’s explained that Marvel Studios and Disney+ has allotted "this wonderful huge budget, and with a lot of thought going into it. These are real superfans, really respectful superfans of the show, extending the show into new places. We couldn't have asked for a better setup than that."
Returning cast members include Cal Dodd (Wolverine), Lenore Zann (Rogue), George Buza (Beast), Alison Sealy-Smith (Storm), Chris Potter (Gambit), Catherine Disher (Jean Grey), Adrian Hough (Nightcrawler), and Christopher Britton (Minister Sinister). Some of the new cast members include Jennifer Hale, Anniwaa Buachie, Ray Chase, Matthew Waterson, JP Karliak, Holly Chou, Jeff Bennett, and AJ LoCascio.
X-Men ‘97 will premiere on Disney+ sometime in 2023.