Following the high-profile firing of Beau DeMayo, Marvel Animation has a new writer on board to pen the third series of X-Men ’97.
Marvel Studios has struggled in lots of ways over the past couple of years, but its animation division has gone from strength to strength. The release of its What If…? series marked a real high point for the studio, but its fortunes peaked even higher with this year’s X-Men ’97.
The series – which revives the long-dormant 1990s X-Men animated show has received almost universal praise from critics. Mere weeks before its release, however, Marvel announced that it had fired the creator of the series, Beau DeMayo. The timing of DeMayo’s departure made plenty of waves at the time, not least because of X-Men ’97’s success and also because he was a regular writer for the company, having worked on live action shows such as Moon Knight and Marvel’s long-awaited (and long delayed) Blade. Nor was any reason given for DeMayo’s departure.
A second season of X-Men ’97 was already confirmed at this point, with DeMayo having completed scripts for it, although those episodes are said to have now been revised. A third season has now been confirmed too, with Deadline reporting that Matthew Chauncey, the writer behind 3Below: Tales Of Arcadia is coming in to take over writing duties.
Chauncey has some prior experience with Marvel, having penned episodes of What If…? and Ms Marvel. He will work alongside series director Jake Castorena, who has been in that role since the show’s conception. Considering just how universal the raves for X-Men ’97 have been, there’ll be plenty of eyes on the show watching to see whether the quality can be maintained.
There is currently no release date set for the show’s return. When we do hear a date regarding the launch of season two, we’ll let you know.
