X-Men ’97: Marvel’s Head of Animation Breaks Silence on Showrunner Beau DeMayo Firing

Marvel fans were stunned this week when just days before the premiere of X-Men ’97, Marvel Studios confirmed that series showrunner Beau DeMayo had been fired from the series. Details were unclear at the time, and remain that way as of this writing, but DeMayo had previously been on board to participate in interviews for the show’s premiere and had reportedly written scripts for X-Men ’97 season two and had plans for X-Men ’97 season three. Speaking in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Brad Winderbaum, head of streaming, television, and animation at Marvel Studios and executive producer on the series, broke his silence on the firing of Beau DeMayo.

“I can’t talk about the details,” Winderbaum revealed, “but I can say that Beau had real respect and passion for these characters and wrote what I think are excellent scripts that really the rest of the team were able to draw inspiration from [to] build this amazing show that’s on screen.” When asked if he would consider what happened with DeMayo as a “firing” as had been the wording used in the press, Winderbaum added, “I don’t. ‘We parted ways’ is the best way I could say.”

When is X-Men ’97 coming out?

The first two episodes of Marvel’s X-Men ’97 will premiere on Disney+ on Wednesday, March 20. New episodes will premiere weekly after that in this order:

• Wednesday, March 20 – Episode 1, “To Me, My X-Men;” and Episode 2, “Mutant Liberation Begins”
• Wednesday, March 27 – Episode 3, “Fire Made Flesh”
• Wednesday, April 3 – Episode 4, “Motendo / Lifedeath – Pt. 1”
• Wednesday, April 10 – Episode 5, “Remember It”
• Wednesday, April 17 – Episode 6, “Lifedeath – Pt. 2”
• Wednesday, April 24 – Episode 7, “Bright Eyes”
• Wednesday, May 1 – Episode 8, “Tolerance Is Extinction – Pt. 1”
• Wednesday, May 8 – Episode 9, “Tolerance Is Extinction – Pt. 2”
  
• Wednesday, May 15 – Episode 10, “Tolerance Is Extinction – Pt. 3” – Season Finale

: “X-Men ’97 revisits the iconic era of the 1990s as The X-Men, a band of mutants who use their uncanny gifts to protect a world that hates and fears them, are challenged like never before, forced to face a dangerous and unexpected new future.”

The voice cast for X-Men ’97 includes Ray Chase as Cyclops, Jennifer Hale as Jean Grey, Alison Sealy-Smith as Storm, Cal Dodd as Wolverine, JP Karliak as Morph, Lenore Zann as Rogue, George Buza as Beast, AJ LoCascio as Gambit, Holly Chou as Jubilee, Isaac Robinson-Smith as Bishop, Matthew Waterson as Magneto and Adrian Hough as Nightcrawler.”