Want to hear something that, if you’re anything like me, will make you feel super-old? Fox’s awesome ‘X-Men: The Animated Series’ turns 25 years old this year! Are you kidding me right now – that show has been around for a quarter-freaking-century?
To commemorate the anniversary, showrunner Eric Lewald is set to release a book entitled ‘Previously on X-Men, The Making of an Animated Series,’ talking all about the show and some of the ups and downs of production. In a recent interview, he was asked how the show might have continued if Fox hadn’t cancelled it after the fifth season; without missing much of a beat, Lewald came up with an idea on the spot, and even teased the potential for crowd-funding a sixth season:
“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 his beloved X-Men. It’s like a death,” he said, recapping the wrap of his iconic series before getting to the meat of the matter.
“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-healed Charles Xavier is 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.”
“If you’ve got some financing, I know where to find the cast and crew…”
Presumably that last bit was pretty tongue-in-cheek, as I can’t imagine Fox wanting to go down that road on the animated front right now, with their X-focus on their film series and all.
‘Previously on X-Men, The Making of an Animated Series’ is available for purchase – click here to learn more and get a copy.
