The animated Marvel show returns this July. The executive producers signal what’s ahead.

X-Men ‘97 season 2 trailer delivers Apocalypse: Creatives talk Gambit aftermath, Polaris, and more (exclusive)

The animated Marvel show returns this July. The executive producers signal what's ahead.

By Nick Romano

Nick Romano

Nick Romano is a senior editor at ** with 15 years of journalism experience covering entertainment. His work previously appeared in Vanity Fair, Vulture, IGN, and more.

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May 27, 2026 12:00 p.m. ET

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east, Rogue, Bishop, Professor X, Nightcrawler, and Magneto on 'X-Men '97'. Credit:

- X-Men '97 season 2 trailer debuts as the executive producers tease what's ahead.

- "Ancient Egypt Apocalypse gives us this massively powerful mutant backstory," Larry Houston says.

- The death of Gambit "looms greatly over season 2," while the Lewalds hint to "follow the breadcrumbs."

Apocalypse has arrived.

*X-Men '97* season 2 gets a first trailer, revealing the beloved animated series will return to Disney+ this July 1. The footage goes big on En Sabah Nur, the ancient mutant who's back in a big way as the prime adversary of the new episodes.

After the events of season 1, the X-Men are trapped at different points in time. Xavier (Ross Marquand), Magneto (Matthew Waterson), Rogue (Lenore Zann), Nightcrawler (Adrian Hough), and Beast (George Buza) were transported to Egypt in the year 3,000 B.C., at the start of Apocalypse's reign. Jean Grey (Jennifer Hale) and Cyclops (Ray Chase) were sent deep in the future to the year 3960 A.D., where they have one big Summers family reunion with their children.

Apocalypse on 'X-Men '97'.

Storm (Alison Sealy-Smith), Wolverine (Cal Dodd), and Morph (JP Karliak) are currently unaccounted for, but the season 2 trailer gives us glimmers of their adventures — including what might be a Phoenix Force version of the Marvel's wind rider, as well as Morph morphing into Deadpool.

"As to where they pop up next, that is a fun reveal I'm not ready to talk about yet," executive producer Larry Houston, the original series director, teases to **.

It's now up to Bishop (Isaac Robinson-Smith) and Forge (Gil Birmingham) to bring them all back before Apocalypse can strike the X-Men "at their most vulnerable": in the '90s timeline.

Eric and Julia Lewald, two of the premier writers and producers on the original *X-Men: The Animated Series*, served as consulting producers on season 1 of the sequel show and now hold the title of executive producers with Houston for *X-Men '97* season 2. All three tease the impending events in interviews with EW.

Storm on 'X-Men '97'.

In a joint interview with Eric, Julia calls the new episodes "a fun house mirror" of their *X-Men: The Animated Series *Season 2, which saw Xavier and Magneto in a similar scenario trapped in the Savage Land, while the rest of the main team were off on their own. "You have the fun of playing with very specific groups of X-Men together, trying to figure out how to get where they need to go," she says.

With all the history hijinks, viewers will meet various versions of Apocalypse across these timelines. In ancient Egypt, "He's still trying to figure out who he is," Eric describes. "You're not even sure if he's a bad guy.... This is going to Apocalypse in middle school and see[ing] what it was that was going on in his head as he started to sense who he was."

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Houston shares more insight over email. "Ancient Egypt Apocalypse gives us this massively powerful mutant backstory," he writes. "No one is born evil, but we see how circumstances led him to become the villainous Apocalypse. Present-day Apocalypse is constantly trying to cull the herd of the weak so that only the strong survive. Future Apocalypse is how his vision becomes reality, perhaps."

Houston also confirms, the death of Gambit (A. J. LoCascio) "looms greatly over season 2," especially Rogue still mourning that loss. "Gambit has been such a core character to the X-Men, pretty much since he debuted in the comics back in 1990," he continues. "He’s been a huge part of our storytelling in the animated series, as well, and I know fans have a lot of expectations on how we follow up on everything that happened in season 1 in this new season."

Wolverine on 'X-Men '97'.

The season 1 finale's post-credits scene gave us a tease of Apocalypse standing before the site of Gambit's murder, holding one of his playing cards. "So much pain, my children. So much...death," he says.

Those familiar with the Marvel comics lore around Gambit, Apocalypse, and that selective word choice likely already have an idea of where this is all heading. "We probably don't wanna get too close to answering that specifically, but appreciate that a lot of folks are picking up breadcrumbs. And that's positive," Julia comments.

"If you were a betting man, I would say, follow the breadcrumbs," Eric adds.

Cyclops, Jean Grey, and company on 'X-Men '97'.

Marvel shows us some of the new characters entering the playing field in season 2, including the X-Force, Psylocke, Angel (in his Archangel evolution), and Colossus. Polaris, the green-haired daughter of Magneto with a comparable mastery over magnetism, is another fresh face.

"Polaris is as powerful as the mutant Magneto," Houston prefaces, "and she not only has a substantial role in Season 2 but she has a pivotal character arc that affects both mutant teams X-Men and X-Force."

Though there's less than a month before the season 2 premiere, Marvel and Disney+ already showed their investment in the animated series after the success of that 2024 round of episodes. Larry says they are currently committed for four seasons at the very least.

Wolverine on 'X-Men '97'.

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"They want everyone to know it's only gonna be a year now between seasons, not two-and-a-quarter years," he adds. "It's gonna be a year until the next one and a year until the next one [after that]. They are on schedule now. One of the reasons they're on schedule is we've gone over, given notes on, responded to not only all the scripts for season 3, all the animatics for season 3, we are in season 4 giving script notes. So that's how deep they are into the development."

Eric is hopeful when he says "there's a commitment until our grandchildren have grandchildren."

Julia level-sets: "We just had two grandchildren, so you maybe a little optimistic there, hun."

Watch the trailer above.

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Source: “EW Superhero”