Shortly before X-Men ‘97 premiered to critical acclaim earlier this year, the show underwent a major behind-the-scenes shakeup. It was reported in March that series creator and head writer Beau DeMayo had been fired, with the reasons for that being unspecified at the time. More recently, DeMayo has been feuding with Marvel Studios over the alleged reasons for his ousting. No lawsuits have been filed at this time, but DeMayo has enlisted the services of a lawyer, while his former employees have made claims of broken legal agreements. All the while, the show remains in production, and one of its directors just shared thoughts on the new head writer.
What Did The X-Men ‘97 Director Have To Say About The Show’s New Head Honcho?
Beau DeMayo was relieved of his duties after completing writing duties on the first two seasons of the X-Men sequel series. (Only one of those has aired at this point.) With that, a new lead scribe had to be hired and, in July, it was confirmed that Matthew Chauncey would take on the job and serve as showrunner. Director Emi/Emmett Yonemura recently spoke to Screen Rant about the changing of the guard, and they sound very excited about having Chauncey on board:
Oh, he's lovely. I absolutely love working with him. He hasn't even been on super long, and he's already a super sweet, incredibly talented writer, so we're already having a blast over here, and I'm really excited for fans to kind of see what he helps bring to the table because it's amazing, he's a genius.
Matthew Chauncey definitely has his share of experience with superheroes or animation. He most prominently served as a writer – and later head writer – on Marvel’s What If…?, which is ending after its upcoming final season. Additionally, Chauncey wrote episodes of the live-action Ms. Marvel series and has reportedly written episodes of the forthcoming animated limited series Eyes of Wakanda. With all of that in mind, the seasoned scribe does bring a wealth of knowledge to the X-Men series. His hiring also helps maintain creative continuity behind the scenes as the drama that’s adjacent to the show plays out.
Marvel Studios And Beau DeMayo Are In The Middle Of A Back-And-Forth
The latest chapter in the saga surrounding Beau DeMayo’s firing began less than a week ago when he shared fan art that depicted him as a mostly unclothed Cyclops in June amid Pride Month. DeMayo claimed that because he shared the pic on his social media account, Disney stripped him of his Season 2 credits. The House of Mouse responded hours later, however, stating that the ex-EP was “terminated” after an investigation was conducted and “egregious” findings surfaced.
Sources also claimed Beau DeMayo and Disney “an agreement was reached between the two parties over the issue of tweeting about the show” and that his second-season credits were taken away for that reason. DeMayo accused his former employers of trying to “mislead with alleged contract breaches over tweets.”
Aside from that, insiders claimed that the Moon Knight alum engaged in “sexual” misconduct while working on X-Men ‘97. The InSneider alleged that the ex-Marvel writer “photos of himself in various states of undress” to young staffers as “inspiration” for the show. It was also alleged that the fired-head writer groped an assistant and was physically and verbally abusive. Through his lawyer, Bryan Freedman, the creative accused Disney of gaslighting him and, in a recent statement shared with The Streamr, Freedman said the following:
You realize that Disney allowed Beau to have an Only Fans page while working for the company. No clue if someone quit while he was showrunner but that’s like every single day on every single show. My client never sent lewd videos and photos to his direct reports. That is a bald faced lie and defamatory. No one who reported Beau to HR received an inappropriate photo or video. That is simply untrue. As a proud gay black man, Disney knew exactly who he was and what he stood up for. That’s why they did not tell him to stop his only fans page. They let him be himself which allowed his creativity to thrive. When they objected to his free speech rights and not complying with illegal NDA’s a certain person over there tried to replace him because he was becoming more successful than other creators. Ask Disney if his separation agreement illegally silenced him. Let me know what they say. Don’t print this crap. It’s wrong and defamatory.
As of right now, this remains an ongoing situation, and it remains to be seen how it might play out. That aside, X-Men ‘97 Season 2 remains on the schedule of upcoming Marvel shows and will seemingly be Apocalypse-centric. Matthew Chauncey will continue the story after that and, if his past work and Emi/Emmett Yonemura’s praise are any indication, he could be the right guy for the job.
X-Men ‘97’s first season is currently available to stream in its entirety with a Disney+ subscription. And anyone in need of new content to watch should take a look at the 2024 TV schedule.
