When it was revealed that X-Men '97 would bring back X-Men: The Animated Series' original voice cast, the response from fans was overwhelmingly positive. Not everyone has reprised their roles, of course, but those who haven't have still been given the opportunity to play different characters.
Jennifer Hale is the new Jean Grey, for example, while Catherine Disher - the original X-Man - is instead voicing Dr. Valerie Cooper.
Part of the reason for those casting changes could be because the X-Men: The Animated Series cast had to audition for the chance to reprise their original roles! In an interview with IGN, Wolverine actor Cal Dodd and Rogue actress Lenore Zann confirmed they weren't an immediate lock to play their respective mutants again.
"The scene that they picked [for the audition] was so obscure," Dodd remembered. "'What do you mean? He doesn't yell at anyone here, or scream or be ignorant or be funny, underhanded funny?'"
"The Chief turns to him and says, 'The people are very happy, and it's all because of you,'" Dodd continued. "[Wolverine] said, 'So do I. I feel happy too. I feel, I don't know, at peace.' But that's a scene that they picked me to do, and so unlike Wolverine, the voice that he ends up doing all the time. I found that interesting."
Zann, meanwhile, got an email informing her that Disney was working on a new series and later heard from casting director Meredith Layne. Despite not knowing what the project was, she soon recognised the lines they had asked her to read.
"They were the lines from the original show," Zann explains. "And I was like, 'Oh! It's Rogue! I'll just do Rogue.' And so I did it, and sent it off. And about a month later, three weeks later, I got a call saying, 'Teah, the producers want to meet with you on Zoom.'"
"So then we went on Zoom, and they got me to read with Meredith on Zoom, and then at the end of it they were like, 'Oh my god, Lenore, we just love you. Would you please be in the show? Because we really want you in the show.' I was like, 'Absolutely! You got me.'"
Seeing as decades have passed since X-Men: The Animated Series ended, it makes sense that Marvel Studios felt the need to check that the cast could still do an effective job of bringing these iconic characters to life. There may have also been creative reasons for some of the changes, but the original stars have been treated with a great deal of respect from what we can see.
The first three episodes of X-Men '97 are now streaming on Disney+.