For more than three decades, X-Men: The Animated Series has remained one of Marvel’s most beloved animated shows and one of the iconic cartoons ever. Last year, Marvel Studios smartly leveraged the nostalgic popularity of the show to create X-Men ’97, which picks up where the last series left off. Now, entering the second season members of the original creative team, Eric and Julia Lewald and Larry Houston, are enjoying something they never expected: seeing fans around the world embrace the series with the same passion they did in the 1990s.
POC Culture recently spoke with the Lewalds and Houston, who were all elevated to Executive Producers for the sophomore season. With a visible passion for the X-Men that still burns bright today, they spoke about about the continued success of the show, their favorite character arcs this season, and why they believe the series has enough stories to continue for many years.
The Creators Never Expected This Level of Fan Passion
When X-Men: The Animated Series first aired in 1992, the internet was not what it is today, and certainly social media was barely a concept. Thus, there was always somewhat over a barrier between creators and fans. Eric and Julia Lewald talked about how this caused them to not fully realize how popular their show was.
“We knew the show was popular. We’d see the Nielsen ratings, but we weren’t having interaction with fans,” Julia Lewald explained.
That changed years later when the creators began attending conventions.
“We started going to cons…and realized the people at this con 20, 30 years after are all dressing like characters from our show,” Eric Lewald added.
Larry Houston, who is the first Black Saturday Morning Cartoon storyboard artist, admitted he was equally surprised when he finally joined social media.
“I went on Twitter. It’s like there’s this entire X-Men ecosystem there and they really wanted to talk about the show. They remembered it fondly. I was totally impressed,” Houston said.
Storm, Apocalypse and Jubilee Continue to Grow
Asked which characters have stood out most in the new season, Eric and Julia Lewald highlighted Apocalypse and Cable because the new season has given both characters much deeper stories than the original series could explore.
“We didn’t get to really show much of, any of, his backstory when we did the show and the fact that we’re getting all this depth about this character that was just kind of a force of nature with this larger than life thing, that was a real gift,” Eric Lewald said about Apocalypse development from the original animated series to X-Men ’97. “And also Cable, because Cable for in our world, he’d just come into the comics and he just kind of burst in as this big gruff guy, and now knowing, being with Scott and Jean, and watching the kid grow and getting all this depth about cable, those two have been have been special.”
A personal favorite on the X-Men team is Storm, who is not only one of the most popular members of the team, but whose importance to the overall story is made clear in the first episode of the new season.
“One of the real challenges with superheroes is to not make them blandly powerful…it’s great to see her as a three-dimensional adult and even more of a centerpiece I think for the series than we used her,” Eric Lewald said.
Houston echoed that excitement, teasing that audiences will finally see more of Storm’s incredible abilities.
“Storm has gotten to start seeing more of her full potential of what she can do. Because she’s literally like the most powerful, except for Phoenix, he’s literally the most powerful character in the group,” Houston said.
Houston also delved into Jubilee’s continued growth from being a fresh-faced kid in the original series to the moral center of this one.
“When we first put her in my series, she’s the young kid who has no idea, and she’s the one who has to learn her abilities, in the original series. And what’s happening now in the current series, she’s becoming more of an adult. She’s discovering that she has more maturity and making more adult better choices,” Houston said. “She is the point of view character of morality for the viewer and for the group. Because she keeps the perspective of humanity, of what is good and what is bad. So she’s a very pivotal character.”
The Team Wants X-Men ’97 to Continue for Years
Houston himself has already confirmed in other interviews that they are working on additional seasons, including seasons 3 and 4. It’s clear from the passion that the Lewalds and Houston still have that they’re eager to continue to work on the series for many years to come.
“Well, I know they’re going to try and match, you know, I did five five seasons [for the original series]. I’m going to try at least do five. That seems to be the goal. I mean, at least they did verbally confirm four. And so, I’m pushing for five,” Houston said.
Eric and Julia Lewald seem to have even greater ambitions in mind.
“Brad’s [Winderbaum] bursting up and down and you know he wants to do 10, and we want him to do 10. We want eight years from now to be having more conversations like this about season 10. With 60 years of comics and all these characters…there’s really no limit.” Eric Lewald said.
Watch our full interviews with Eric and Julia Lewald, and Larry Houston. X-Men ’97 Season 2 releases July 1, 2026 on Disney+.
Ron is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of POC Culture. He is a big believer in the power and impact of pop culture and the importance of representation in media.
