As revealed by Deadline this morning, Disney has hired What If? head writer Matthew Chauncey as its new co-showrunner of X-Men ’97, alongside series director Jake Castorena. Original series producers Larry Houston, Eric Lewald and Julia Lewald will also remain on the series as “consulting producers.”
The outlet additionally notes scripts for the upcoming second season of X-Men ’97 have been lightly “revised” in light of original showrunner Beau DeMayo’s controversial departure, and are currently in production. A third season of the show is also now officially in development at Disney+. It was previously revealed during DeMayo’s abrupt exit from the series that season 2 had largely already been planned out and finalized, with rough ideas for a potential third season in early casual discussion. How much Chauncey will use those ideas, as early as they were, remains to be seen.
In addition to What If?, Chauncey’s previous film credits include the streamer’s Ms. Marvel series–in which he worked as a consulting producer–and Taika Waititi’s Thor: Love and Thunder as a script doctor. Chauncey also worked in the writer’s room of Guillermo del Toro’s short-lived Netflix animated series, 3Below: Tales of Arcadia, starring She-Hulk‘s Tatiana Maslany.
A release date for the second season of X-Men ’97 has yet to be set.
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