X-Men ‘97 stunned viewers from start to finish with its epic take on the mutants’ story, continuing the legacy that the original X-Men: The Animated Series left behind. From dropping numerous Easter eggs to featuring surprising Marvel cameos and everything in between, it’s easy to see why the critics call the reboot “Marvel’s best release in years.” So, with the epic first set of episodes, the series episodic directors Chase Conley and Emi/Emmett Yonemura reveal how they plan the Season 1 finale.
In an interview with ComicBook, Conley revealed that they were happy to “stick the landing” after having a lot of storylines that they wanted to wrap up. Despite the hardships of telling these stories together, they thoroughly planned for everything and executed a perfect ending to X-Men ‘97 Season 1.
“The main theme of our season, I think, from Episode One all the way to Episode Ten, was escalation,” he continued.
Conley knew that Episode 5, Remember It, was the series' peak level. But amid the praise and positive response it received, he admitted that they found it hard to escalate the emotional level, especially after Gambit's death. Thankfully, the excitement continued when Charles Xavier returned and rejoined the X-Men in Episode 8, Tolerance is Extinction – Part 1.
“There's a lot of things that we set up that we needed to pay off that, I still think, hit just as hard,” he explained. “I mean, of course, seeing Gambit die is, it is hard to rival that as far as just a guttural kind of reaction. But it's nice to see Xavier rejoin the team.”
When everyone thought Charles died at the end of X-Men: The Animated Series, he was seen alive with the Shi’ar empire in X-Men ‘97 Episode 6, Lifedeath Part 2. This made the public believe that the mutants had deceived the world of his death to gain sympathy, not knowing that they, too, had no idea he was alive.
“His reemergence, in terms of the scheme of things, has a ripple effect as far as extremists and things of that nature,” Conley added. “And also, too, it's not just the typical upping the stakes, in terms of it's going to get bigger and scarier and the world is going to end. But it's truly earned, as far as everything goes.”
For Yonemura, Charles’ return was intense. He watched it as a fan of the X-Men, Conley, and his team. And after seeing what happened in that episode, just like fans, he couldn’t help but be stunned by how amazing it was.
“It's so intense! It's amazing,” he said.
Will there be X-Men ‘97 Season 2?
The future of X-Men ‘97 is sealed, and a second season was in the works even before the first season was released. But despite the early renewal, Marvel Studios’ Head of Streaming, Television, and Animation Brad Winderbaum asked fans to be patient as it would take a little while before its animation got completed.
“It’s still an animatic phase,” he told ComicBook. “Animation takes so long to make as I’m sure you know. There was a great bit about this in Invincible Season 2. They just nailed it so hard, it is the greatest.”
Invincible didn’t get a second-season renewal until the first season ended, taking a long time before its next installment was completed. That made Winderbaum thankful that X-Men ‘97 was renewed for a second season early, so there might be “less of a lag.”
Unfortunately, writer and producer Beau DeMayo won't be heavily involved in the second season's production after being fired by Marvel before the first season’s release. However, he has still written much of it before his exit. In a post on X, the showrunner revealed the work he couldn’t do for X-Men ‘97 following his exit.
“I did write a lot of season 2,” he shared in a post. “However, unlike Season 1, I will not be heavily involved or leading production, cast records, design, editorial, post, music, etc., nor doing any production rewrites as it relates to the creative vision of the show.”
As X-Men '97 Season 3 is now in the early stages of development, Winderbaum told Entertainment Weekly that they would have "a new head writer." But fans don't have to worry. Though DeMayo would be replaced, Winderbaum ensured that the mantra, goal, and source material would remain the same, and they would continue to honor the comics and the original show.
With the first season's success, receiving critical acclaim and becoming one of the most-watched and streamed TV series, there are high expectations surrounding X-Men ‘97 Season 2. Hopefully, this will be on par with the revival’s first outing.
All episodes of X-Men '97 Season 1 are available on Disney+.
