The Big Picture

Season 1 of
X-Men ’97
was a hit, building off the 1990s series, and exploring romantic subplots that fans resonated with.
Executive producer Brad Winderbaum hints at Season 2 and 3, and explains how the series might influence the MCU as a whole.

X-Men ’97
Season 2 is in progress, with Season 3 being written.

This year has proven to be an excellent year for fans of the X-Men franchise, with both X-Men ’97 and Deadpool & Wolverine bringing a long overdue dose of mutant action to the big and small screens. X-Men ’97 in particular has captivated audiences over the past nine weeks as the series aired weekly on Disney+, and now, in the wake of an epic season finale, we’ve all been left to theorize what might happen in Season 2. Following the finale, I had the privilege of chatting with X-Men ’97’s executive producer Brad Winderbaum about Season 1 and where things are headed in the upcoming second and third seasons.

Picking up right on the heels of the short-lived X-Men: The Animated Series, which aired back in the 90s, X-Men ’97 hit the ground running with Season 1. It built on the foundations of where Season 5 left things back in 1997, while bringing exciting new plotlines into the mix. X-Men ’97 stayed remarkably true to its origins by delivering storylines that felt more in line with contemporary soap operas, than the typical Marvel fare of the 21st century. As Winderbaum and I discussed during the interview, one of the most defining aspects of the series is its exploration of romance, which is something that is notably absent from other MCU projects.

While the series carried over the messy love triangle between Logan (Cal Dodd), Jean (Jennifer Hale), and Scott (Ray Chase), which was one of the defining aspects of The Animated Series, X-Men ’97 also explored a relationship that had previously only been seen in the comics: Rogue (Lenore Zann) and Magneto (Matthew Waterson). X-Men fans might be split in their opinions of this relationship, but as Winderbaum explained during the interview—it was a “goal” of the series, and something that The Animated Series’ original creatives were entirely on board with. Keep scrolling to read my full conversation with Winderbaum about romance, relationships, and where things might be headed in upcoming seasons.

X-Men ’97 A band of mutants use their uncanny gifts to protect a world that hates and fears them; they’re challenged like never before, forced to face a dangerous and unexpected new future.Release Date March 20, 2024 Cast Jennifer Hale , Cal Dodd , Chris Potter , Catherine Disher , Adrian Hough , Ray Chase , Lenore Zann Seasons 1 Number of Episodes 10 Streaming Service(s) Disney+ Franchise(s) X-Men

COLLIDER: Congratulations on an absolutely killer first season of television. Something I really loved about season one was the romance element. We had the Rogue and Magneto relationship, the Love triangle with Logan, Jean and Scott. We have Jubilee and Roberto. Is that something that fans can expect to see built up more in season two as we continue to maybe explore those dynamics?

BRAD WINDERBAUM: Yeah, I think that is something fans can expect to see. It’s inherent to the material. When you read the comics that the show is referencing, the soap opera really is part of it and really shines through. And when the stakes get risen for these characters and become deadly, you care about them so much because you know what they’re being robbed of. You know the love that you want them to have, you know the relationships that they have forged with each other. And so, when tragedy strikes, you know what’s lost, and it hurts that much more, and better.

Rogue and Magneto’s Relationship Was a “Goal” of ‘X-Men ’97’

It definitely does. You touched on something there that I think is really interesting. I’ve always said that Marvel doesn’t have nearly enough romance in it, at least not as much as the comics. The comics have so much romantic tension. Now that we’ve seen it play out a little bit more in X-Men ’97, and it seems like fans are really resonating with seeing those dynamics on screen, do you think that’s something that might influence future Marvel series and movies to maybe lean into that a little bit more?

WINDERBAUM: I think it will influence, and I hope it influences the entire studio. It’s something I’ve learned as a television producer versus a film producer, is how much time you have to build those relationships in a longer form and deepen them and let them grow and tease them. And you can show things to the audience first that the characters don’t see yet. So give people things to root for, from a romance standpoint, from a friendship standpoint, from an enemy standpoint.

And especially on the television side, as we make season twos and season threes of things, that conversation between characters just continues and deepens. I think on the feature side, especially these big event movies that I’ve certainly produced and that we always produce at the studio, you can really create amazingly deep, beautiful relationships, but you have room for one or two, because the event itself just puts the plot on fast-forward. And it’s more of a statement. In the case of Ant-Man, for example, it’s like a father and his daughter is at the heart of that, both from Scott and his daughter and Hank and his daughter too. And the parallel there is at the heart of that story. You get one statement to make about that.

Whereas your show where it’s a longer conversation over time and there’s more writers, there’s more creators, there’s more people involved across the process. That’s probably the biggest learning I’ve had, transitioning from one medium to another.

I’m definitely biased in saying that I love television because it does give you that chance to explore so much more of these characters and get to see so much more. Something I hinted at there is that I really like the Rogue and Magneto relationship we got to see in X-Men ’97, because I loved it in the comics and never expected to ever see it play out on screen. So I’m curious, what was the conversation and the decision that factored into playing with that dynamic in X-Men ’97?

WINDERBAUM: Well, you put it best, it is pulled from the comic. I think part of the ethos of X-Men ’97 was to emulate people’s memories of the original show. So we brought on the original creators and director as consultants, and they were very involved, and we looked at the same source material that they were looking at, and looking for untapped potential in those stories. And it was something that every single person knew from the start going in, that this was the goal. I think that, ideally, you want to create something where everyone’s vision is just focusing on the same point, and this was one of those magical events. And that was certainly part of it, was finding those amazing things from the comics that had yet to be explored, either in the live-action movies or in the original series.

And it’s been really fun to see people going back and reading those comics, because they’re like, “Wait, this is in the comics? I didn’t even know this was the thing that has ever been explored before.”

WINDERBAUM: It’s so exciting. The original series was a gateway to the comics for me. And now comics are so available to us because of Marvel Unlimited and just the ability to share ideas. I follow so many comic book related social handles now and learn things every day. And I’m like, “Whoa, wait, that happened?”

What’s the Status of ‘X-Men ’97’ Season 2 and Season 3?

I know there’s so much. So many different arcs and things to really tap into. Now I believe season two is almost in the can with the actors doing ADR pickups and all of that. And I think season three is still on track. So is everything still on track for the three season plan, or is there still this potential that it could go on even longer beyond season three?

WINDERBAUM: In animation, the green lighting of season two, I’ve learned is always a process. And when I talk to people that have been in the animation business longer than I have, it’s kind of a tale as old as time. Because it takes three years to do it, and the studio, the network wants to know if they have a success on their hands before they invest in the next [season]. There’s always a delay between Season 1 and 2 because they want to see if there’s a success on their hands before they invest in the second season. And we were able to actually greenlight Season 2 before we aired it, just from the quality of the work that we were seeing on the inside. But it’s always a process. Every project I’ve ever worked on has taken a lot of work and editorial to get it right. And when you’re balancing so many stories like X-Men ’97 is, there’s a long editorial process, and we’re in the middle of that now in the second season. But the material is great. I think it holds up against the first season, and we are currently writing the third season.

Is Season 2 the same length roughly as season one?

WINDERBAUM: I’m not sure if it’s exactly the same episode count. There’s some TBDs there, but it’s a little bit in flux at the moment.

I’m very excited to see where season two goes, especially with the way Season 1 ended with all of the X-Men scattered throughout time. Very excited for that.

WINDERBAUM: I don’t want to spoil anything, but there’s an idea at the top of the season that is one of the coolest things.

Oh, my God. I cannot wait. I’m especially excited about the Egypt stuff because I love Egypt, so I can’t wait to see how that plays out for those characters. Something else that I really like about X-Men is that we got all of these really cool cameos to these characters that we were really introduced to in the 1990s. Zemo and Doctor Doom and Daredevil and the Avengers through the animated form. Now that we’ve seen them again in animated form, do you know, is there a potential that we might see them pop up in other spinoffs, maybe reviving some old things from the 90s? Or is it really just kind of sticking to the cameo vibe for these characters?

WINDERBAUM: We’ll see. We’re letting the characters tell us where they want to go. I think for the time being, it is definitely like, X-Men ’97 is our conduit to the nineties. I think that particular show at this particular time, that’s the place to explore. But there’s so many side adventures from the comics. There’s so many, not just cameos, but guest star appearances that are exciting to think about. And there’s one on the table for Season 3 that pays off something from the original animated series in such a massive way that I think it’s going to make people really excited.

Oh, I cannot wait for that. For my last question for you, are there any comics that we should be brushing up on while we wait for Season 2? I know I’m going to be revisiting the Age of Apocalypse arc.

WINDERBAUM: Right, right. I don’t want to spoil anything, especially this far out, but you can’t go wrong with [Chris] Claremont. Filling in the gaps of Claremont’s decades-long run on the books is always a great place to start for the show.

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