Warning: SPOILERS for the X-Men ’97 episode “Remember It” are ahead!
X-Men ’97 Season 1 has hit its halfway point, and those with a Disney+ subscription who tuned into Episode 5, called “Remember It,” were hit with one hell of a gut punch. A Wild Sentinel attacked the mutant nation of Genosha and killed dozens, if not hundreds of other mutants, leading to Magneto and Gambit sacrificing their lives to protect the Morlocks and other survivors. X-Men ’97 fans are understandably devastated by this death and destruction, and “devastated” is exactly the word that Gambit actor A.J. LoCascio and Rogue actor Lenore Zann used while speaking exclusively to CinemaBlend to describe how they reacted when learning about the tragic twist.
Mere minutes after Magneto met his end, Gambit prevented Rogue from being blasted by the Wild Sentinel too, then while charging at the robot, was impaled by one of its cables. However, thanks to his ability to take an object’s energy and convert it into kinetic energy, Remy LeBeau blew up the Sentinel at the cost of his own life, with his final words being, “The name’s Gambit, mon ami. Remember it.” Here’s what LoCascio had to say how he felt when he read this scene unfold a few years back:
I was sad, I was pretty devastated, especially since this is a character I’ve loved for so, so long, and then to get to play the character and then to find out they’re dying halfway through the season. I was devastated. Yeah, I had to go through my own mourning process in the same way you would with a friend or a loved one in a weird way. I mean, obviously not to the same degree, but there was this feeling of, ‘Welcome to the world of X-Men!’ And then it’s like, ‘And then you die!’ And I as like, ‘You couldn’t even wait a couple more episodes!’ It’s very strange and bittersweet. I’m thrilled to voice Gambit in any capacity, so to do it in these pivotal moments was an honor. But yeah, I definitely felt heartsick and sad. Jake [Castorena] and Beau [DeMayo] had to call me and placate me and tell me, ‘It’s ok, this is a good story.’ I was like, ‘Ok…’ So I felt very sad.
Not only have Gambit and Rogue been among the most important X-Men characters in the comics for decades, they were also two of the leading protagonists in X-Men: The Animated series, which ran from 1992 and 1997, and retained those positions in the revival. But now Gambit is gone, and as an added layer of sadness, he died without knowing that Rogue had turned down Magneto’s offer to be both lovers and rule Genosha alongside him, and instead chose Gambit as her soulmate. While holding Gambit’s lifeless body with her bare hands, she tearfully uttered, “Sugah, I can’t feel you.”
So Rogue witnessed two people she was close with die in immediate succession, which calls into question what her state of mind will be like for the rest of X-Men ’97 Season 1. We’ll just have to wait and see how things unfold on that front, but here’s how Lenore Zann summarized her feelings about Gambit’s death:
Well I was devastated too. I really feel that Rogue loves Remy deeply, and in this episode, we also find out how deeply… The fact that she says to Magneto, ‘Some things are deeper than skin.’ That’s so important because this is what Gambit said, and she repeats that. Anybody who knows Rogue knows that not being able to touch anyone skin to skin has been part of her trauma her whole life. She wants to touch people skin to skin, but she realizes, ‘No, some things are deeper than skin,’ that, for me, just speaks galaxies and universe of deep, deep love.
If there is one sliver of hope for Gambit, Magneto and the other casualties on Genosha, it’s that prior to the Wild Sentinel attack, Madelyne Pryor briefly saw Cable, the cybernetic warrior from the future whom she realized was her son Nathan all grown up. Cable disappeared before he could offer any more words of warning, but given how often he time travels, there’s a possibility that he’ll be able to alter key events in his past and undo this horrific event, thus bringing all those other mutants back to life. With five more episodes left to go this season, let’s hope this is, to use a phrase befitting Gambit, in the cards.
New episodes of X-Men ’97 premiere on Disney+ Wednesdays as part of the 2024 TV schedule. Keep visiting CinemaBlend for continuing coverage on the series, and see what lies ahead with our guide of the upcoming Marvel TV shows.
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