10 Things We Learned From Assembled: The Making of X-Men '97
X-Men ‘97 just wrapped up its first season on Disney+, and we’re still trying to recover from the thrilling conclusion. To hold us over until season two, here are the best behind-the-scenes tidbits we learned from the new doc Assembled: The Making of X-Men ‘97 to geek out about until the show returns.
The special explores the comic book adaptation’s series continuation from the ‘90s to now, while still remaining set in the same era where it left off. Supervising producer and head director Jake Castorena, head of Marvel Animation Brad Winderbaum, and episodic director Emi Yonemura—along with the new and returning cast, and more—all appear to celebrate the iconic Marvel show, which continues the X-Men’s legacy.
Timeless X-Men themes guided the way
X-Men have always treated being different in a very different way. “Life is hard, and it’s gonna be hard, but you can do it together—you can find a team, you can find your family, and you cam actually make a difference,” Emi Yonemura said, explaining why it was important to bring back the show.
It all went back to the original pitch
The show’s original pitch was about reviving the series. The team always wanted to continue the show they loved and directly line up the stories started in the ‘90s by emulating fans’ memories of the program. The new team brought back original showrunners Eric and Julia Lewald and director Larry Houston as producers. And like Stan Lee told them in the ‘90s, they told the new crew they had their back for this new iteration.
X-Men: The Animated Series had an unsung hero
The Fox Kids cartoon had a secret hero: then-CEO Margaret Loesch, who brought on the original team to do 14 episodes. She believed in the X-Men so much she put her job on the line; her studio exec higher-ups told her if it failed she’d be fired. And in fact, before the show even released, they fired the entire team—but that was short-lived as the show became a hit and was renewed.
Action was key to revitalizing the series
Action on screen is modernized this time around with modern tech to push the limits. The X-Men ‘97 team took inspiration for its action sequences from both live-action cinema and animation from the ‘90s. Instead of using cell-drawn animation with flat backgrounds, the new team opted to blow past it for “emotional effect” into a more three-dimensional space with anime inspiration. Using digital intermediate (DI) tech, they threw filters on X-Men ‘97 that were stylized from ‘90s films, adding jitter and noise grain to make scenes more explosive in widescreen.
The music was as important as ever
They knew that had to keep the opening titles, which celebrate the characters in a “very distinctive, strong, and driving way,” original director Houston shared. He did the opening drawings for the original series before the music came into play; to match the artwork, it took 12 versions before they landed on the 13th, which is the theme we know and love.
Assemble the X-Men
Supervising producer and head director Jake Castorena said the topics the OG show handled were very important to continue this time around. He was influenced by everything, down to the original voices that had a sense of humanity that saw them through. Therefore, X-Men ‘97 opted to bring back as many original voice actors as they could. Houston also mentioned how they cast based on theatricality and emotion.
Casting memories
Lenore Zann, who plays Rogue, didn’t initially audition but went to callbacks. She got it immediately. Wolverine’s Cal Dodd had a similar experience. Both felt their casting was meant to be. Alison Sealy-Smith, who plays Storm, is a Shakespearean actor who connected to Storm as a Queen. She quickly felt that they had similar natural strengths; they both “go big or go home.” Beast actor George Buza is a comic book nerd who read the script and knew it was X-Men immediately which was like his Star Wars.
A superhero homecoming
The cast missed these characters. They recorded in the same studio as they did in the ‘90s for X-Men‘97. They also watched episodes to get back into it, and all quickly fell back into step effortlessly. Like stepping into a “well worn leather jacket,” Zann said about voicing Rogue again. The whole cast didn’t actually realize X-Men: The Animated Series was still so big until Comic-Con two years ago; it felt like a homecoming to learn they’d made so many people’s childhoods.
Voice cast switch-ups honor the past and future
A.J. LoCascio auditioned to take over the role of Gambit when the audition tried to hide that it was an X-Men project. The character was called Johnny but the reference was “Ray Potter as Gambit”—so he checked the other parts references and, since he’s a fanboy himself, realized it was the X-Men. Potter, the original voice of Gambit, took over the role of Cable for X-Men ‘97.
The X-Men are just as powerful today than ever
Zann, who loves the X-Men mythology, described the original scripts and their continuation, as “archetypes, like Greek and Roman gods and goddesses.” That influenced the new creative team to continue to explore Magnus and Charles’ dream and bring it back just like those who came before. But they didn’t want to emulate a time capsule of the original, so they carefully tooled it to be a spiritual successor. Houston proudly said that the original creators stuck to the tenet “Don’t write down to kids, write up to kids”—and they are happy to see that continue.
Brad Winderbaum added, “Kids see the world around them, they see the racism, they see social unrest.” Much like the X-Men did for him growing up, he said, the characters and stories can do the same for kids now—and help them not feel alone. It’s a show about tolerance, something that the X-Men has always represented.
Watch Marvel Animation’s X-Men ‘97 and Assembled: The Making of X-Men ‘97, as well as X-Men: The Animated Series, on Disney+.
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