The shocking fifth episode of the animated series was one of the most intense and appreciated of the entire show
During a recent interview, the director of X-Men ’97 Jack Castorena addressed the elephant in the room: the shocking death of a beloved character in the show’s fifth episode, “Remember it“.
ATTENTION: The following article contains major SPOILERS about the season’s plot.
During the episode, while some members of the X-Men are on Genosha, an army of Sentinels descends on the planet to kill all the mutants present. At the end of a poignant and dramatic sequence, in the end Magneto and Gambit also lose their lives.
Although the death of the former was in the plan from the beginning, the director revealed that Gambit’s demise was by no means a given.
“Was it always Magneto? Yes. Has it always been Gambit? Almost. Magneto has always been kind of a staple. The other character, initially, wasn’t Gambit. I don’t dare say who he was because he changed several times. This happens when you change the script and story, and push certain things based on the needs of the story“.
The bottom line was that everyone events would be guided by history. “This is one of the things that really, genuinely, captured me and convinced me to join this project. It was like we were saying, ‘Oh, we’re going to get some revenge, but it’s all going to be narrative-driven.’ It’s going to be about pushing the narrative in a way that will benefit the story and validate why we’re making these changes. We don’t do these things for the sake of shock, but to try new challenges and advance the narrative in a genuine way“.
X-Men ’97, the directors of the series vying to guide the return of the mutants in the MCU?
Who will be the new leader of the X-Men?
Now that the team is in pieces, Who will lead the X-Men now? A question that Castorena tried to answer:
“Isn’t Magneto important right now?“, Castorena replied smiling during our interview. “It’s just a question, right? How will our team, these characters we know and love, enter this world from one day to the next? Is it a new world and what are the consequences? What are the global ramifications of coexistence between mutants and humans?“.
