X-Men '97 Season 2 is streaming on Disney+, and audiences couldn't be more excited for their long-awaited reunion with the team. In this sophomore season, our heroes are splintered across time and space itself, as they find themselves on the precipice of a deadly showdown with the iconic villain Apocalypse.
A key element of the X-Men is the diversity and size of their cast. In fact, if you were to look at every character that's been introduced in the MCU to date, it would still be less than all of the notable characters in the X-Men's orbit. With a cast that massive, how does one decide who to include and feature throughout the show?
The Direct sat down with X-Men '97 executive producers Eric and Julia Lewald, who spoke about how they chose whom to introduce, exclude, and focus on in the show's narrative. We also spoke with X-Men '97 executive producer Larry Houston, who revealed that a resurrection of the fan-favorite mutant Gambit is on the table.
Dealing With the Insane Cast of the X-Men
"It's a Giant Balancing [And Juggling] Act."
- The Direct: "The X-Men have so many characters, so what is the process of when you enter a new season, a new storyline, of picking who we are introducing, reintroducing, or just focusing on?"
Eric Lewald: Good question, because it's a giant balancing [and juggling] act. Let me say that... And with Season 2, not only do you have a busload of characters, but you have a busload of time travel, so it's not just playing linearly in 1997. Stuff's going on in the future, in the past—it requires a lot of laying out of things to make sure you're not tripping yourself up accidentally, which is very easy to do.
Julia Lewald: I think part of it has to do, you know, the showrunner maybe has preferences, the executives have preferences. It's such a communal effort that, you say, 'Okay, well, let's look back at the first season. We had a lot of Scott and Gene. We may have overdone that a little bit. Well, maybe Wolverine was a little underplayed. Maybe we need an episode or two focusing on him. What about Morph, you know, did we do everything we wanted to in the first season?'
Julia admitted that at the end of the day, it can be a challenge to "keep on finding stuff for [the core group] to do:"
Julia Lewald: I think my feeling is that if you got a core group that you want everyone to remember... they're gonna have all sorts of guest stars and people that mean a great deal to them, but in the end everybody's going to turn back to see the core six, and so the core group that's in this is a little bigger than what we did back in the 90s, and it's hard to keep on finding stuff for all of them to do that, since there's so many.
Even with the introduction of X-Force and X-Factor in X-Men '97 in Season 2, there's pressure to spend a few minutes with each of them to get to know their character. On a logistical level, there's simply not enough room in the episodes to give everyone that space.
Julia Lewald: And then introducing X-Force and X-Factor, busloads of other characters. Fans love that, but from the writing side, and to me, it makes it difficult. It's like, okay, if you're going to bring those guys in, you've got to spend a couple of minutes with each of them if you're going to know their character, and there's just not room.
Compared to the original animated series, "there's more budget for more characters, and there's more budget for spectacular art," making it more possible to expand the roster more than ever before:
Julia Lewald: So, when we were making episodes back in the day, we [had] tight budgets, [and] they'd say we'll pay for 10 voices in this episode, not 37. I know you're a fan, but you know, get those teams out of there. Nowadays, there's more budget for more characters, and there's more budget for spectacular art that can show them all off, but still in the storytelling, in half an hour, you know, how many of these people are you really going to get to know?
Julia elaborated on their thought process when developing stories for X-Men '97:
Julia Lewald: So, are there going to be central people that are going to be memorable, or are there going to be, oh, I saw those six guys fighting, and it was cool. That's background, but those are all just, it's always juggling, and you have a room full of people trying to decide, you know, what have we done well, what do we need to do more of, what are we thin on, and [then] adjust the stories.
