X-Men '97 premiered last March to widespread acclaim, but the series was also mired in controversy thanks to the firing of showrunner Beau DeMayo due to alleged misconduct.
The X-Men: The Animated Series follow-up returns next year, and will deal with a huge cliffhanger which saw Cyclops and Jean Grey stuck in 3960 AD. Rogue, Nightcrawler, Beast, Professor X and Magneto were sent to Ancient Egypt in 3,000 B.C. (where Apocalypse currently resides), while Wolverine, Storm, and Morph's whereabouts are currently unknown.
In the present day—well, the 1990s—it's down to Forge, Bishop, Jubilee, and Sunspot to find their teammates. However, in an alternate ending shared by DeMayo, we learn that Forge originally had some help from Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat and Colossus.
Lockheed also made an appearance, and it seems the idea was for these three to search for the missing mutants in X-Men '97. As for how they'd achieve that, we learn that Forge was going to be tasked with building a time machine, a plot point potentially still set to be utilised in season 2.
Colossus made a few guest appearances in X-Men: The Animated Series, while Shadowcat never appeared and was essentially swapped out for Jubilee. It's unclear whether there are plans for Kitty and Colossus in the revival moving forward.
"Season 2 of X-Men '97 is going to be in 2026. We're working on it now," Marvel Television boss Brad Winderbaum recently explained. "It's exciting. That world of the '90s is just... Honestly, I can't believe they let me make it."
"I grew up at Marvel, as you know, clocked a lot of time here, and I feel like I used a lot of currency to revive this thing that I loved watching after school," he continued. "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."
Very little has been revealed about season 2, though Matthew Chauncey is taking over as showrunner (many of DeMayo's ideas are thought to have remained in that given where it was in the production process). Earlier this year, Neve Campbell was cast as Polaris.
You can read X-Men '97's alternate ending in the X post below.
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.
"A triumphant return for X-Men: The Animated Series," we wrote in our review last year, "X-Men '97 is an eXtraordinary epic which, while a little overreliant on nostalgia, should satisfy fans of the original show and serve as an eXcellent entry point for newcomers."
All episodes of X-Men '97 are now streaming on Disney+. Stay tuned for updates on season 2 as we have them.