Larry Houston, an Emmy-nominated producer who directed the original X-Men cartoon, delivered a positive release update on X-Men ’97 Season 3, and it speaks straight to the one worry hanging over the show’s return. Fans waited just over two years for fresh episodes after the first season wrapped in May 2024, a delay long enough to cool the white-hot buzz the revival enjoyed out of the gate. With Season 2 only days away from its July 1 debut, the question turns to what comes next. Will the next chapter take just as long to continue the story?
Speaking with The Direct ahead of the Season 2 premiere of X-Men '97, Larry Houston shared that he is hands-on with the third season right now, and he offered reassurance to anyone nervous about a drop in quality, telling fans, "Trust me, as a fan, you will enjoy it." The bigger relief came when the conversation turned to timing. Houston waved off the idea that Season 3 and Season 4 will test viewers the way the last wait did, confirming that the release gap between X-Men '97 Season 2 and 3 will be smaller than the one between Season 1 and 2; "They’ve learned their lessons:"
"Luckily, the production problems won’t occur again. There was a huge gap of time between [season] one and two. They’ve learned their lessons, so with [seasons] three and four, that won’t happen again… That was a one-off."
Houston’s word counts for something here, given his long history with these characters. The man who shepherded the original cartoon is now telling the audience that the messiest part of the revival’s rollout is over. For fans who nearly gave up on a second season, this reassurance from someone involved since the show's inception should quell any fear of future delays.
Houston is not the only one promising a quicker turnaround. Brad Winderbaum, Head of Streaming, Television, and Animation at Marvel Studios, confirmed that Season 3 is already in production, and he pointed to a yearly release plan as the studio’s goal for the series from here on.
X-Men ’97 Season 2 arrives on Disney+ on July 1, with the first three episodes dropping together before the final six roll out weekly. The nine-episode run picks up after a Season 1 finale that scattered the team across time, stranding Cyclops and Jean Grey in the far future while Rogue, Beast, Nightcrawler, Charles Xavier, and Magneto turn up in ancient Egypt. Their scramble to regroup and find a way home sends them into the orbit of En Sabah Nur, the immortal mutant conqueror.
Could Yearly Seasons Make X-Men ’97 One of Marvel’s Best Shows?
The most exciting thing about Marvel Studios' plans is what a yearly rhythm could do for X-Men ’97 over the long haul. TV shows live or die on momentum, and a tighter turnaround helps retain viewership. With attention spans getting shorter these days, waiting years between seasons hurts a show's audience retention. When Season 3 follows close behind, viewers get to ride the cliffhangers while they still sting rather than squinting to remember who ended up where.
A yearly release will set X-Men '97 apart from other Marvel shows. Marvel Studios rolled out plenty of series since 2021, yet few run for multiple seasons, and fewer still keep audiences hooked when there's a long wait in between seasons. X-Men ’97 already enjoys a lot of goodwill thanks to how great Season 1 was and how nostalgic the original show is. Pair that with episodes arriving in quick succession, and you get the closest thing Marvel owns to an old-school appointment cartoon, the kind people plan their week around.
With a fourth season already greenlit and a fifth under discussion, a steady drumbeat of releases could keep the X-Men in the conversation for years instead of letting interest cool between drops. Long delays are how good shows slowly lose their audience. If Houston is right that the brutal wait was a one-time problem, the revival stands a real chance of becoming one of Marvel Studios' greatest shows, as it'll retain its core audience for several years.
Geraldo Amartey is a writer at The Direct. He joined the team in 2025, bringing with him four years of experience covering entertainment news, pop culture, and fan-favorite franchises for sites like YEN, Briefly and Tuko.
