As a reboot of a massively popular TV show that means a great deal to a certain generation, lead writer Beau DeMayo knows that Disney Plus animated series X-Men ’97 will be facing intense, pressure, expectation, and scrutiny.
Fortunately, DeMayo knows that full well, and revealed to The Direct that the main thing the team plans to replicate in the reboot is the “secret sauce” that made its storytelling great. As he explains, the key ingredient was the earnestness and emotions of all the show’s characters.
“For me, it made sense once I met [Julia and Eric] Lewald and Larry Houston, who were the creators and directors of the original series, who are literally the best people you could possibly imagine, is they are so earnest and sincere as people.
And so I think the challenge to me was honoring that earnestness, that emotional sincerity in the show where it wasn’t just about the big bad of the day. That was almost, in some cases, an afterthought. It was really about the relationship of this found family, and how they cared about each other and had disagreements. And I always just come back whenever we’re talking in the writer’s room, or we’re talking to the directors, it’s just like, we have to have earnest emotion in every scene. Cause I really do think that was the secret sauce to the original series.”
While the goal is to replicate the magic of the original, DeMayo explained that X-Men ‘97 will differ from its fan favorite predecessor in the same way that the world now differs from how it was back in the late ‘90s. There’s no release date locked in as of yet, but we can bet on the end product making a huge splash among the Marvel fanbase, regardless of when it arrives.
