Nightcrawler is gone, Val Cooper might be too, and there is a new mutant-hating president in the Oval Office. So naturally, the only thing on every fan’s mind right now is when they get to see what happens next.
X-Men ’97 just wrapped its second season with one of the most emotionally brutal finales Marvel Animation has ever put out, and it left almost every major thread of the show completely unresolved. Apocalypse is down, but the world the X-Men are waking up into looks a lot scarier than the one they left behind.
Good news: fans will not be waiting nearly as long this time around. Marvel has already locked in when the team is coming back, who is likely to be there when they do, and just how messy things are about to get.
When Is X-Men ’97 Season 3 Coming Out?
X-Men ’97 Season 3 is set to premiere on Disney+ in 2027. Marvel Television, Animation, Comics and Franchise head Brad Winderbaum confirmed the window directly to Collider ahead of the Season 2 finale, telling the outlet plainly that season three is coming out next year and season four the year after that.
That means Season 4 is already locked for 2028, putting X-Men ’97 on a consistent yearly cadence going forward instead of repeating the two-year gap that separated Seasons 1 and 2.
Season 3 has reportedly already finished production, and scripts for Season 4 are underway. Winderbaum has also acknowledged that streaming realities mean episode counts could stay lean, similar to Season 2’s nine-episode run rather than Season 1’s ten, though nothing official has been announced yet.
Related: How Long Was Mystique Impersonating Val Cooper in X-Men ’97? Every Clue You Missed
Who’s Coming Back for Season 3?
The core roster of voice talent is expected to return, including Ray Chase as Cyclops, Jennifer Hale as Jean Grey, Alison Sealy-Smith as Storm, Cal Dodd as Wolverine, Lenore Zann as Rogue, George Buza as Beast, AJ LoCascio as Gambit, Holly Chou as Jubilee, Isaac Robinson-Smith as Bishop, Matthew Waterson as Magneto, and Ross Marquand as Professor X.
Chris Potter’s Cable and Gil Birmingham’s Forge are also expected to factor in after Season 2 expanded X-Force’s role.
Adrian Hough’s Nightcrawler is a bigger question mark following Kurt’s apparent death in the finale, though Marvel has a habit of finding ways around permanence in a franchise built on time travel and alternate realities.
Related: Why Did Nightcrawler Turn Against the X-Men in X-Men ’97?
What’s Next for the X-Men?
The Season 2 finale’s post-credits scene did the heaviest lifting for setting up Season 3. Mystique was shown breaking into Val Cooper’s office, seemingly shooting her, and taking her identity, giving the shapeshifter a direct line into the highest levels of the United States government.
Making matters worse, a radio broadcast confirmed that Graydon Creed, son of Sabretooth and a lifelong mutant hater, has just been elected president.
With the Brotherhood of Mutants already confirmed to factor into the new season, the pieces are lining up for a storyline that echoes the Days of Future Past comics, with human and mutant relations on the verge of collapse. Onslaught has also been teased across both seasons and remains a strong candidate as a future Big Bad.