Save for maybeBatman: The Animated Series, it’s hard to think of a show that did more for comic book adaptations thanX-MenThe Animated Series, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. The show ran for five seasons on Fox from 1992 to 1997, but there’s always been desire by fans to see more episodes. As it happens, showrunner Eric Lewald has revealed a new idea forX-Men: The Animated Seriesseason 6 and it’s totally awesome. But can it really happen?
Eric Lewald is currently promoting his new book,Previously on X-Men, The Making of an Animated Series. In a recent interview promoting the book, Lewald was asked about a potentialX-Men: The Animated Seriesseason 6. While admitting he hadn’t thought about it, he came up with a pitch for a season-long story arc on the spot that sounds really great. Here’s what he had to say.
“I had honestly never thought about it for all these years, but now that you mention it, an idea for a season just came to me: The five-season series ends with a dying Charles Xavier being whisked away to space by Lilandra, where she can maintain his fragile body, but where it seems he will be gone forever from hisbeloved X-Men. It’s like a death. Season Six could open, months later, with the X-Men in disarray, a few gone, the ones remaining at each other’s throats. They miss their leader. Then somehow they are called to, and transported to, an existential crisis on Lilandra’s distant world. The team grudgingly reunites ‘for Charles,’ heads off to space, solves the crisis, and a somehow-healedCharles Xavieris either able to return to Earth with them or, if he can’t, his heroic final sacrifice heals the team’s wounds and they return to Earth as the proper X-Men again.”
That’s pretty excellent for an off-the-cuff pitch.X-Men: The Animated Seriesis one of the things that helped introduce many fans of a certain age to theMarvel team of mutants. They’ve only gained more popularity, with the live-action movies kicking off in 2000. The first of which helped usher in the modern age of superhero movies as we know it. So another season of the belovedX-Menshow would probably do very well. Would Eric Lewald do it?
“If you’ve got some financing, I know where to find the cast and crew.”
So, if someone wants to come in and finance the thing, it sounds likeX-Men: The Animated Seriesseason 6 could actually happen. Revivals of oncepopular TV showshave been all the rage in Hollywood lately, so this idea doesn’t sound that crazy. And this pitch Eric Lewald made toSyFy Wirecould definitely be fleshed out into something really meaty and satisfying. Fox still owns the rights to the series (for now), so they would have to be the ones to ultimately say yes or no to such a thing. Then again, if Disney does wind up buying Fox, as is reportedly a strong possibility, it would be up to the Mouse House to make this happen. For now, this is just something that sounds cool that we hope could happen. There’s no indication currently that it actually will.
