X-Men '97 Director Talks Honoring Comics Storylines

X-Men '97 director Jake Castorena responded to some fan opinions that tries has been galloping along. The pacing of the Disney+ show has been a big topic of conversation on social media. ComicBook.com's Phase Zero podcast managed to ask about the wild number of comics storylines that have already been addressed in the show. It seems very fast. But, Castorena says that the pace is directly inherited from X-Men: The Animated Series. But, in X-Men '97, things are moving at this clip because of their episode count. Of course, it feels a bit faster than a show that had five seasons or so to make an impression. It's clear the entire team really loves the X-Men and wants to do this thing right.

"I kindly challenge uh something that you, you spoke to earlier. The pacing is right out of the DNA from the OG show. Really think about what the OG did," Castorena argued. "So, the reason why it's not felt as much is because there's a difference between having a five season arc, and us having one season with 10 episodes."

"It had a lot more episodes to cover a lot more ground," he explained. "But if you watch individual episodes and genuinely, I mean, the Phoenix Saga part one? How much they go through in just the first episode? It's like, 'Dang!' ln one episode, we understand that Gambit comes in from a night out while everybody's waking up from early in the morning. Then it just sends everybody off to space. Jubilee's stays at the base. Oh yeah, by the way, there's some space entity up in there and Eric the Red shows up!"

X-Men '97's Team Has Been Laser-Focused

"Again, full credit to the scripts and, the writing team and Beau [DeMayo], because that pacing is in the script. When you have 1100 characters you got to cover, and they all have poignant moments and they all have arcs," Castorena continued. "You have to really prioritize what story! You lose time for process. So, you have to cram all that stuff in. Again, it's something that I really respect about the stories and the scripts in the writer's room is: we only have 10 episodes to work. I would say everything has to slap. We don't have the luxury of, 'we'll get it later on in the season.' No, get episode one."

"The mission statement was, because by episode five, 'we're gonna challenge stuff' and hold a mirror. So, we had to know how that escalation would work. But, you can't escalate unless you know where you're starting from. Then, you know where you're going," the director concluded.

X-Men '97 Continues To Move Forward

Fans have been flocking to Disney+ to catch X-Men '97. Marvel Studios has a synopsis for people who are just getting started: "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 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."

"Beau DeMayo serves as head writer; episodes are directed by Jake Castorena, Chase Conley and Emi Yonemura. Featuring music by The Newton Brothers, the series is executive produced by Brad Winderbaum, Kevin Feige, Louis D'Esposito, Victoria Alonso and DeMayo."

Do you love the pace of X-Men '97 so far? Let us know in the comments down below!