‘X-Men ‘97’ Head Writer Beau DeMayo on the Responsibility of Making the New Animated Series
The X-Men ’97 animated series was announced on Disney Plus Day 2021. It’s the first project from Marvel Studios to be headlined by mutants.
The Direct got the chance to sit down with Beau DeMayo, head writer and executive producer of the new animated series, and asked him about the pressure he and his team have to endure to bring the mutants under Marvel Studios’ umbrella. He recently worked on the Disney Plus live-action show Moon Knight, which airs its final episode in a few days, so The Direct asked him directly if there was any difference between working on both projects. He said:
“From a studio and process standpoint, no different. Kevin [Feige], Brad Winderbaum, Dana [Vasquez-Eberhardt] who’s working with us on this, who are our producers, they have the same level of involvement. I know in some studios, animation is treated like the red-headed stepchild and, honestly, ‘What If…?’ and Marvel’s other animated series are treated just as seriously as their live-action properties. And X-Men, in particular, is something that is very close to Marvel Studios’ hearts, now that it’s back home at the studio. So that has been different.”
He also discussed the major differences he found between working as a writer on a show and being the head writer and executive producer on another project. He said:
“It’s just like, X-Men means something to a lot of people. There’s a weight and a responsibility there, I think, now that it’s back at Marvel Studios, that is very different, and that I’m always aware of. The funny difference is more sleepless night, because on ‘Moon Knight’, if something didn’t go right, [I was like], ‘well, Jeremy [Slater] is writing the show, so at the end of the day he’ll have to [figure it out].’ There have been several moments where I’m like, ‘Someone needs to figure this out—oh, it’s me now.’ [laughs] So, there’s been a lot of growth, I’d say, that I’ve had to do on X-Men ‘97. Just as a storyteller, and as a producer, and as a person, that has made it a very different experience than writing on ‘Moon Knight’.”
While we don’t know for sure how the X-Men will be introduced into the MCU, we might have a better idea after watching Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which, as teased in the trailers, will be the first MCU project to openly feature a mutant. It’s unknown whether the classic team will make the jump to live-action, but we will hopefully get news later this year, maybe at Comic-Con. Stay tuned!
X-Men ’97 will debut on Disney Plus at some point in 2023.
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as authors like Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
