X-Men ’97: Original showrunner Beau DeMayo reveals his original plans for Gambit

X-Men ’97 Season 1 showrunner Beau DeMayo has revealed to the fans his original plans. We already know that the acclaimed animated series has two more seasons on Disney+. A continuation of the 90s animated series, the revival is set sometime after the original series finale "Graduation Day" (September 1997). It follows the X-Men as they hand over Charles Xavier to the Shi'ar.

DeMayo posted images from the series bible he created while working on X-Men ’97 Season 1 on his X (formerly Twitter) account. It should be noted that Beau DeMayo was let go by Marvel just a week before season 1 premiered in March 2024. Now, DeMayo revealed his plans for the fan-favorite mutant Gambit through the latest X post.

X-Men ’97 showrunner Beau DeMayo reveals Gambit Plans:

Beau DeMayo

@BeauDemayo

No. I follow a model taught to me by Julie Plec. You rotate out the characters each season. ​Gambit’s season was S3, where I was going to adapt his arc in Age of Apocalypse, where he would be assembling a team at the behest of Magneto to find and steal the M’Krann Crystal.

Beau DeMayo teased that an upcoming season was going to adapt the popular Age of Apocalypse (1995) for the third season. For those who don't know, the popular Marvel event comic follows several mutant factions resisting Apocalypse, who had attacked humans a decade before his initial canonical appearance. This change in timeline is because of Charles Xavier's mysterious death.

Magneto is one of these leaders who has teamed up with the X-Men to resist Apocalypse. Now, DeMayo revealed that X-Men ’97 Season 3 would've been Gambit's moment to shine as he was one of the members of Magneto's faction. Firstly, DeMayo pointed out that X-Men ’97 was a departure from the popular X-Men movies, as the series's bible listed Wolverine as a C-list character.

DeMayo's X post read:

"For those curious — these are the pages from my bible for #xmen97. You’ll see how Wolverine was listed from go as a C character. I’ll find the script I used to pitch to the head studio where I explicitly stated “This is not the Wolverine show. It’s time to move on.” I was requested to remove that line from the mission statements before sending it to crew, but I made it clear that we were no longer making the X-Men all about Wolverine. This was a mandate both fought for and proven by my team. It deserves to be recognized."

The series bible listed Gambit under the "red team". The red team is described as light-hearted, fun characters who also move the plot forward and support the character arcs of other characters. A user asked the X-Men ’97 showrunner if the latter was surprised by all the love fans showered upon Gambit. To this, DeMayo responded:

"No. I follow a model taught to me by Julie Plec. You rotate out the characters each season. Gambit’s season was S3, where I was going to adapt his arc in Age of Apocalypse, where he would be assembling a team at the behest of Magneto to find and steal the M’Krann Crystal. Basically Ocean’s 11 in space."

It should be noted that, as of now, it is unclear if Marvel is going to follow DeMayo's plans or not.

Why was Beau DeMayo fired?

The real reason behind Beau DeMayo's firing was revealed only months after his exit. The showrunner claimed that a risque social media post celebrating Pride Month featuring X-Men characters is why Marvel fired him. But Marvel released a statement revealing that DeMayo was under investigation for alleged inappropriate behavior:

“Mr. DeMayo was terminated in March 2024 following an internal investigation. Given the egregious nature of the findings, we severed ties with him immediately, and he has no further affiliation with Marvel.”

However, DeMayo denied these allegations. His lawyer, Bryan Freedman, released this statement to The Hollywood Reporter:

“Having much experience with Disney, the playbook is always the same. Family friendly on the outside, but secretly attempting to plant illegal unconscionable items in contracts that silence the truth and stop the employee/customer from asserting basic constitutional rights. As we will explain through detailed examples which we will roll out in detail one by one, Disney’s model is very clear and a repetitive illegal pattern.”

Since then, the showrunner has teased his original plans as he feels that Marvel may or may not use his initial plans for X-Men ’97, Seasons 2 and 3.

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The first season is currently streaming on Disney+. Binge the entire season as we wait for X-Men ’97 Season 2, scheduled for a mid-2026 release.

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