Trailer: X-Men ’97 set for March debut
David Farnor | On 15, Feb 2024
“The professor entrusted us with his dream…” That’s the sound of the X-Men returning to our screens, 90s-style.
X-Men: The Animated Series, for those who weren’t watching cartoons on Saturday mornings at the time, ran for five seasons from 1992 to 1997 and became one of the iconic iterations of the mutant heroes. Now, Marvel is bringing them back in what will effectively be a sixth season for the animated show, following on from the finale, Graduation Day, which saw Professor Charles Xavier pass away.
X-Men ’97 will comprise 10 episodes and reintroduce us to the band of mutants who use their uncanny gifts to protect a world that hates and fears them. The new series will see them challenged like never before, forced to face a dangerous and unexpected new future – in which Professor X’s last will and testament falls into the wrong hands.
The voice cast includes Ray Chase as Cyclops, Jennifer Hale as Jean Grey, Alison Sealy-Smith as Storm, Cal Dodd as Wolverine, JP Karliak as Morph, Lenore Zann as Rogue, George Buza as Beast, AJ LoCascio as Gambit, Holly Chou as Jubilee, Isaac Robinson-Smith as Bishop, Matthew Waterson as Magneto and Adrian Hough as Nightcrawler.
Beau DeMayo serves as head writer, with the directing team including Jake Castorena, Chase Conley and Emi Yonemura and music from The Newton Brothers.
You can see the end result on 20th March, when the series premieres on Disney+ UK. Here’s the trailer:
Disney+ orders X-Men 97 animated series
12th November 2021
Disney+ is expanding its animated universe with a new X-Men series, 90s-style.
Titled X-Men ’97, the series from Marvel Studios explores new stories in the iconic 90s timeline of the original series. That was titled X-Men: The Animated Series, which ran from 1992 to 1997 and became one of the iconic iterations of the mutant heroes.
This Week in Marvel spoke to Brad Winderbaum, Head of Streaming, Television, and Animation at Marvel Studios, and Dana Vasquez-Eberhardt, VP of Animation at Marvel Studios, on what it took to bring X-Men ‘97 into reality.
“This is the first X-Men title produced by Marvel Studios,” emphasised Winderbaum. “What an amazing first step to reintroduce audiences to the X-Men with a look at one of the most pinnacle eras of the X-Men comics, which was the ‘90s. That iconic style that has its roots in Chris Claremont, and is celebrated in Jim Lee, and then again in The Animated Series.”
The series will be written by Beau DeMayo, who is an exec-producer on the project and recently penned The Witcher anime Nightmare of the Wolf for Netflix.
It will feature the voice talents of original X-Men: The Animated Series cast members including Cal Dodd, Lenore Zann, George Buza, Alison Sealy-Smith, Chris Potter, Catherine Disher, Adrian Hough, and Christopher Britton, some cast members of X-Men ‘97 will reprise their original roles, with others voicing entirely brand-new parts. X-Men ’97 will also welcome a number of new voices to the cast, including Jennifer Hale, Anniwaa Buachie, Ray Chase, Matthew Waterson, JP Karliak, Holly Chou, Jeff Bennett and AJ LoCascio.
The supervising director on the project is Jake Castorena and the supervising producer is Charley Feldman. Also consulting on the new series are X-Men: The Animated Series producers and showrunners Eric and Julia Lewald, plus original series director Larry Houston.
X-Men ’97 will arrive on Disney+ in 2023.