X-Men '97 season 2 release date speculation and latest news

Fortunately, a new dawn is rising for the uncanny superhero team, with X-Men '97 returning for season 2 and the cast of the original live-action films reprising their roles for Avengers: Doomsday.

The question is, which will we see first? With Doomsday recently delayed until December 2026, it's looking like '97 will probably be able to get out in front, but the animated series is itself moving forward at a leisurely pace.

If you're itching for another session in the danger room, read on for everything we know so far about X-Men '97 season 2.

X-Men '97 season 2 release date speculation

X-Men '97 season 2 will be released on Disney+ in 2026, meaning that Marvel fans still have a long time to wait until the next appearance of Professor X's uncanny mutant team.

Executive producer Brad Winderbaum let slip the release year in an interview with Collider, where he took the opportunity to hype up what the next set of episodes have in store.

"We're working on it now," he began. "It's exciting. That world of the ‘90s is just… Honestly, I can't believe they let me make it.

"I feel like I used a lot of currency to revive this thing that I loved watching after school. So, the fact that we get to play in that universe with those actors is honestly why I went into this business in the first place."

Long delays between animated seasons have become a familiar story to fans of the comic book genre, with Marvel's What If...?, Prime Video's Invincible and Netflix's Arcane all taking extended absences during their runs.

Winderbaum has previously acknowledged that "it takes a long time to produce animation", while a behind-the-scenes change of showrunner may also have slowed things down a touch.

X-Men '97 season 2 cast speculation

X-Men '97 season 2 will most likely bring back stars Ray Chase (Cyclops), Jennifer Hale (Jean Grey), Alison Sealy-Smith (Storm) and Cal Dodd (Wolverine), among other members of the voice cast.

The revival saw some return to their long-held roles and others reassigned to different characters, with director Jake Castorena explaining the move to RadioTimes.com.

"If we're doing this show, we've got to do it with the legacy cast – that was the decision from day one," he said. "[But] time hits us all – it's been 30 years and so, unfortunately, some of the legacy voice cast is no longer with us, and... voices and things just change.

"Finding people to take up the mantle for the legacy cast, to fill in the roles, was an absolute process, but I absolutely love and appreciate all of our new cast taking on their new roles – and to hear the blessings from the legacy cast has been also awesome, too."

Castorena added: "For those who wanted to come back and for whatever reasons weren't able to do the voice, we brought them back to play other characters, to make sure we still had everybody in the sandbox."

If you need a refresher, here's what the X-Men '97 cast list currently looks like:

• Ray Chase as Scott Summers / Cyclops
• Jennifer Hale as Jean Grey
• Alison Sealy-Smith as Ororo Munroe / Storm
• Cal Dodd as Logan / Wolverine
• JP Karliak as Morph
• Lenore Zann as Rogue
• George Buza as Dr Henry 'Hank' McCoy / Beast
• AJ LoCascio as Remy LeBeau / Gambit
• Holly Chou as Jubilation Lee / Jubilee
• Isaac Robinson-Smith as Lucas Bishop
• Matthew Waterson as Erik 'Magnus' Lehnsherr / Magneto
• Ross Marquand as Professor Charles Xavier
• Adrian Hough as Kurt Wagner / Nightcrawler
• Gui Agustini as Roberto da Costa

X-Men '97 season 2 plot speculation

The plot of X-Men '97 season 2 remains under wraps for the time being, but it's quite possible that the show will draw further inspiration from writer Grant Morrison's run in the comics.

His acclaimed New X-Men was the first to depict a mutant genocide in Genosha, which proceeded to become a major plot point in the first season of the Disney+ series, so it's possible that other elements could be added too.

New X-Men was closely followed by Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men, which was also highly praised by critics upon publication, so that could be another source of interest to the writers.

In an interview with RadioTimes.com, X-Men '97 producer Jake Castorena said: "X-Men, it is a rich IP, with tons of stories and characters, so there's always an avenue or a path that we can go down."

Former showrunner Beau DeMayo had completed work on scripts for season 2 prior to his abrupt exit from the series, which means that it should strike a similar note – although Deadline reports that they have since been "revised".

Matthew Chauncey (of Marvel's What If...?) has been announced as the new head writer on X-Men '97 – he'll be overseeing work on the second and third seasons of the series.

DeMayo said via X: "I did write a lot of season 2. However, unlike season 1, I will not be heavily involved or leading production, cast records, design, editorial, post, music, etc., nor doing any production rewrites as it relates to the creative vision of the show."

Marvel TV boss Brad Winderbaum later told Entertainment Weekly that the show is "honouring Beau's ideas for the second season" despite the screenwriter's absence from the production.

Is there a X-Men '97 season 2 trailer?

Not yet! We'll update this page when new footage is released.

X-Men '97 is available to stream on Disney+. Sign up to Disney+ from £4.99 a month.

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