Supervising Producer and head director Jake Castorena talks about the tricky business of reviving a beloved and acclaimed series while bringing the world of the pre-MCU X-Men to a new generation of fans.
Before the Marvel Cinematic Universe was a gleam in Stan Lee’s eye, there was X-Men: The Animated Series. Airing on the Fox Kids programming block from October 1992 to September 1997, the show was based on the early 1990s X-Men comics by artist Jim Lee and writer Chris Claremont, and became something of a cultural phenomenon, receiving high ratings, as well as kudos for its creative adaptation of a large number of different storylines from the comics.
X-Men ’97, which premiered March 20, 2024 on Disney+, revisits this iconic era, continuing and updating the story of the X-Men, while retaining the style and flavor of the original series. Though targeted at a younger audience, the reboot, like its precursor, is not dumbed down.
“It's sophisticated, tackling real, mature themes,” says executive producer Brad Winderbaum, head of streaming, television and animation for Marvel Studios. “This is something that’s been intrinsic to the comics from the early days of Stan Lee, which had a unique way of addressing the feelings of being an outsider, of dealing with personal struggles. For someone like me, and I'm sure for many others in their teens, ‘X-Men’ was more than entertainment—it was a mirror into our lives.”
Winderbaum goes on to emphasize that the series is not a remake, but a way of honoring the stories that started it all – picking up from where the original series left off and moving forward and reintroducing the world of the X-Men for brand-new fans.
One person who can speak to Winderbaum’s point, and was intimately involved in making the series a reality, is Supervising Producer and Head Director Jake Castorena. A veteran storyboard artist and director, who previously worked on multiple movies and series in the DC Universe, Castorena shared his experiences and offered insights into the process of reviving an iconic property.
Dan Sarto: Since we talked last, the show has been flourishing, both with critics and with fans. To what do you attribute the success? Do you think it has to do with hewing close to the comics, rather than to the MCU?
Jake Castorena: Yes. Because, going back to the OG show, there was no MCU when X-Men: The Animated Series was around. They were the MCU before it became a thing. And so that already gave us a precedent to play in that sandbox, to have the backing, to be able to go to the books and rely on them.
Other than that, I would attribute the success to this team – all of us coming together and collaborating to make something special that we believe in. Because if we're not convinced – if we're not sad, if we're not joyous, if we're not moved – by the themes that we’re touching and for what the X-Men stand for, the audience isn't going to be.
We had a good bible, a good vision from [creator] Beau DeMayo. We had amazing scripts from Beau and the writers’ room. And then it's our job to work as a team to elevate, to bring that vision to life. Because you can have the best vision in the world, but if you do not have a team that can bring that vision to life, it doesn't really matter all that much.
DS: The show honors the original series’ style, but ratchets everything up. Can you talk about how you brought more action, expanded performance, and updated the design, while remaining true to the old series?
JC: Right. Basically, it's the show you remember, but in 4K. That’s what was proposed to us, and that’s what got our gears turning. What does that look like? A huge shout-out to [lead character designer] Amelia Vidal and the whole character design team. What a milestone to take the original Jim Lee designs, take all the [Chris] Claremont influence, and make it fresh, but still familiar.
It sounds either very easy or very meticulous, and it's both. It really is, because we are fans of these characters, the show, the IP. We know what we would love to see, but it's also what is doable, what is workable. For example, hair. Let's take Gambit and Jubilee. Both have so many strands of pointed hair. It looks great. But what we learned is that, holy crap, that's a lot of line art to reproduce. There's a lot of time spent on that that could potentially be spent somewhere else, i.e., on the face acting, on subtle hand acting.
So, we’re honoring the intention of the designs, but simplifying them. They still have the feel of the OG show, but they’re functional for today's timeline and so on. It helps with quality control too if we keep our designs obtainable. If we struggle to do stuff, our vendor's going to struggle to do stuff. Let's make life easier for all of us, which makes the ratio of success higher, the profit of return higher.
DS: Let’s talk a bit about the music. We interviewed Andrew Grush and Taylor Newton Stewart [aka The Newton Brothers], and they talked about how it started out '80s synth tech, and then, as the series progressed, it became more contemporary.
What were you looking for and what kind of directives did you give them? How difficult was it to find the right style?
JC: First, absolute shout-out to the Newton Brothers. They deserve all the accolades they’ve been getting. What I like to say is that they understood the assignment. For me, it was just, does it serve this story, does it serve this narrative? Does it pull from it too much, or does it add to it? This is going to sound funny, but it wasn't really work for me. I enjoyed every step of the process because they were so damn good. “I have to listen to the Newton Brothers score? Oh, damn. Okay.”
In working with the Newtons, it was always about elevating. I can't recall a point where they ever completely missed the mark. They were always within the pocket, always within the realm. And even if it wasn't the direction we were going, something they did inspired us to go in a different direction. My favorite composition is in Episode 10, when everyone's trying to stop Asteroid M from hitting New York. The Newtons did a choir version of the main theme. It's choir and some percussion, but it's the main theme, just composed a different way. It's so good.
DS: We’ve talked a little about the design, and the themes, and the other components that make the X-Men the X-Men. What aspect from the original show did you feel it was most important for you to extend and expand?
JC: That’s a great question. To be honest, there's not any one individual attribute that makes X-Men the show that you remember. It's a lot of things coming together. But one component I can talk about is sound design, especially in relation to the mutant powers. These mutant abilities are just as important as the characters themselves. For me, one of the things was getting the sound right, even if it's not a one-to-one match. But it should feel like Cyclops' optic blast, or Jubilee's fireworks, or Wolverine's claws coming out.
It's also pacing. The pacing of the OG show was a big thing, but that was incorporated into Beau’s scripts from day one, so I didn't have to worry about that too much. Staging and cinematography in the 90s had a very particular look and feel, based on the techniques and technology that they had at the time. Ideally, if we do it right, it feels like a period piece. Technically it is a period piece. That staging, how we shoot things, learning when to push the dynamics and pushing composition, but without changing the formula of shooting things with lenses.
The list goes on. But to be clear, it’s not just me. It's a mandate for all of us. That's how important it is for us to do this show right. It isn't just one parameter. It’s like, we have to do this, do this, do this, do this, do this. Oh, we forgot this. Damn. We care, and it means a lot to us. And to have the validation of the audience, for everyone to be going, "Good job, man.” It's great, and I'm more than happy to be a part of it.
Dan Sarto is Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network.
