By The first season of “X-Men ’97” came to a close the other day, a hugely successful run for the highly acclaimed revival series which Disney indicated has been their third most watched series of 2024 so far behind “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” and Marvel’s “Echo”.
A good bunch of critics and fans have hailed this as the best “X-Men” adaptation yet and the finale sets up a tease of where the show could go from here.
In the wake of the finale, supervising producer and head director Jake Castorena tells Entertainment Weekly that they’re well into the second season’s production – so much so it’s currently in the editing stage.
A third season is also in early development and Marvel Animation head Brad Winderbaum says there’s pressure to continue the goodwill the show has generated so far:
“It feels like a lot of pressure on all of us at the studio as we’re cutting season 2, as we’re figuring out our plans in the future. It is exciting and has taught us a lot of great lessons for the franchise. [The success] definitely has kickstarted season 3 in a massive way.”
Former showrunner Beau DeMayo, who spearheaded the creation of the series, won’t be returning for the second season but scripts for that were completed before his abrupt exit. The rest of the team remains intact which will be key says Winterbaum:
“[The team] will have a new head writer for season 3. We are honoring Beau’s ideas for the second season.
So much of the visual storytelling of this show comes from him and our amazing directing team [Emi Yonemura and Chase Conley]. So it does feel like there’s a consistent voice.
The mantra is the same, the goals are the same, and the source material is the same. As long as that’s our guiding principle, that we’re honoring the comics and the original show, that’s the core to the creative pursuit.”
He also calls Castorena “an amazing architect in his own right” suggesting he may be DeMayo’s potential replacement.
The full first season of “X-Men ’97” is on Disney+ now.
The post “X-Men ’97” Producer On Season 2 Status appeared first on Dark Horizons.
