Original X-Men: The Animated Series writers Eric and Julia Lewald revealed the episode count to the higly-anticipated revival X-Men ‘97. During an interview for Justin Underwood’s YouTube channel, the duo also commented on the show’s release window, giving a more precise prediction of when the animated series comes to Disney+.

When asked what audiences can expect from the revival, the duo said they are confident of its success, as the new creative team is honoring everything that made the original show a success. The writers also reiterated that X-Men ‘97 will be a direct sequel of the original animated series, bringing back all fan-favorite characters. As the writers put it:

“There is great love and affection and respect from an entire group of people that are doing this show, starting at the top with Beau DeMayo as the showrunner. And they have this challenge, I believe, looking at 10 episodes for the first season that’s gonna come out mid-next year, and they’re starting it soon after ours ended."

The new comments reveal that the first season of X-Men ‘97 will count with ten new episodes, a nice round number that’ll please fans. Also, while Disney+ had already revealed that X-Men ‘97 would be released in 2003, the writers narrowed down the revival's release window by saying the show’s premiere is expected to “mid-next year."

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Image via Disney+

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Developed by Eric Lewald, Sidney Iwanter, and Mark Edens, X-Men: The Animated Series ran on the Fox Kids channel for five seasons and 76 episodes, from 1992 to 1997. As the first successful production featuring the Mutants, X-Men: The Animated Series helped present the heroes to a broader public and cemented the X-Men as one of Marvel’s most popular franchises.

The revival will pick up where we last left our dear Mutants, with several cast members returning to their part. Disney+ already confirmed the return of Cal Dodd as Wolverine, Lenore Zann as Rogue, George Buza as Beast, Adrian Hough as Nightcrawler, Christopher Britton as Mr. Sinister, Catherine Disher as Jean Grey, Chris Potter, Alison Sealy-Smith as Storm, and Alyson Court as Jubilee. It seems like most of the old gang is ready to return, with new voice cast members including Jennifer Hale, Anniwaa Buachie, Ray Chase, Matthew Waterson, JP Karliak, Holly Chou, Jeff Bennett, AJ LoCascio. Dodd recently announced he was already back in the studio to record Wolverine’s lines.

X-Men ‘97 will also bring writers Eric and Julia Lewald, and director Larry Houston back as consultants to make sure the revival brings the same energy X-Men: The Animated Series is dearly remembered for. DeMayo (The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf) serves as head writer and executive producer on the revival series, with Jake Castorena (Batman: The Killing Joke) as supervising director, and Charley Feldman (Teen Titans Go!) as supervising producer.

X-Men ‘97 will be coming to Disney+ in mid-2023. All the episodes of X-Men: The Animated are available right now at Disney+, so there’s plenty of time to catch up on the show. Check out the full interview with Eric and Julia Lewald below.