X-Men ’97: Jennifer Hale Reflects on Goblin Queen Twist in Season 1

One of the biggest twists in X-Men ’97 season 1, and there were a lot, was the reveal that Jean Grey had been replaced by her clone, Madelyne Pryor, at some point during the series. This meant that voice actress Jennifer Hale not only had to voice Jean Grey the character fans know, but also Madelyne Pryor when she was still acting as Jean Grey, AND Madelyne Pryor after she has become the Goblin Queen. Speaking with ComicBook’s Phase Zero podcast in an exclusive interview, Hale opened up navigating the trickiness of those performances and how soon she found out that it was even happening.

“It wasn’t presented to me much ahead of time,” Hale revealed. “They keep these scripts locked down, I think justifiably so. And we got to that batch of scripts and… ‘I went, oh my gosh, this is crazy.’ I wanna shout out right now our voice director because she really is the unseen hero in this equation, for me anyway, as a voice actor and I think for several of us. Meredith Lane, she’s the reason that I get to play full-out without worrying about how it’s all coming together because she has the reference of the original like, ‘Where is it Jean? And where is it Madelyne? And where is it Goblin Queen?’ And I can jump into any scene fully and just throw down knowing that she’s there with the guard rails going ‘That one leaked over into the other lane,’…She allows us to play fully and keeps us just going.. I think that’s an amazing job and I appreciate her so much.”

Hale went on to speak about how she was able to find the voice for both Jean Grey and Madelyne Pryor, confirming that for the main X-Men character it was as easy as repeating one word. Fittingly, finding the path to the voice of Madelyne Pryor was even easier.

“Typically I tag on to a key line or a key physicality. With Jean it’s ‘Scott!’ It really lives in ‘Scott.’ That’s where it lives, right? And Goblin Queen, it’s not a specific line, it’s just like those clothes like, ‘Oh really?, like, ‘Get out of my way,’ one of those kind of things like ‘I will tear you apart,’ one of those kind of modes. With Madelyne it’s more the, ‘No, it’s me. It really is. Me.’ She has a slightly different energetic compass point for her, her, her key line is not Scott, it’s other things.”

In addition to Jennifer Hale, the cast for X-Men ’97 includes Cal Dodd (Wolverine), Lenore Zann (Rogue), George Buza (Beast), Alison Sealy-Smith (Storm), Adrian Hough (Nightcrawler), and Christopher Britton (Mister Sinister) who reprise their roles from the ’90s series while returning cast members Catherine Disher (original Jean Grey), Chris Potter (original Gambit), Alyson Court (original Jubilee), and Lawrence Bayne (original Cable) voice new characters. The new X-Men ’97 cast includes Ray Chase (Cyclops), JP Karliak (Morph), AJ LoCascio (Gambit), Holly Chou (Jubilee), Isaac Robinson-Smith (Bishop), and Matthew Waterson (Magneto).

X-Men ’97 is now streaming on Disney+ with season 2 already in production and season 3 in development.