The best drama on TV this season killed off a major character in its fifth episode, set an entire other episode amid a coup attempt on a far-off planet, and is a 27-years-later animated follow-up to a Saturday-morning cartoon. And if Disney+’s overlords are smart, they will make the radical but brilliant decision to push X-Men ’97 for a nomination in Outstanding Drama Series.
X-Men has always used its mutants as a conduit to talk about real-world issues of discrimination and assimilation, and series creator Beau DeMayo and his writing and production team picked up exactly where X-Men: The Animated Series left off in 1997. Seamlessly translating that show’s style while thematically bringing the new series into the present day, the deep moral complexity of the Magneto-versus-humanity story makes this a more relevant show to our current moment than, to use but one Emmy-favored example, The Crown. Charles Xavier and Magneto’s longtime beef concerns whether it’s best for mutants to work toward a future co-existence with humans or just outright supplant them as the new dominant species of life on Earth. Admittedly, Magneto’s pitch has always sounded cooler, and with Professor X spending the majority of this season off-world with his alien lady friend, DeMayo has marinated ’97 in the idea that Magneto might just be right. What to do when a majority refuses to take its boot off of the neck of the minority is a provocative and timely idea, helping X-Men ’97 feel as vital as the animated series ever has.
The reception to X-Men ’97 has been hugely positive at a time when the Marvel Cinematic Universe is at its nadir from both storytelling and viewer-enthusiasm standpoints. While Marvel has had to deal with the growing pains of shifting away from its original cast members, it’s notable that ’97 is working with its full complement of characters in the form that fans originally fell in love with. And in some cases, like with Rogue (and arguably Storm, all due apologies to Halle Berry), we’re returning to versions of these characters who were never depicted faithfully or well in the live-action versions.
Disney’s Emmys strategy, as we approach the nomination stage, has been to push Loki and the Star Wars spinoff Ahsoka in the Drama categories, where the platform has previously enjoyed success with The Mandalorian (an Outstanding Drama nominee in 2020 and 2021). But given the middling-to-bad reviews for Loki’s second season and Ahsoka’s first, the vibes are off. Even if Loki could limp into the Drama Series lineup on account of (have you heard?) the thin field of competitors, it would only call attention to what shabby shape the MCU iso in.
Undoubtedly, an Outstanding Drama Series nomination for X-Men ’97 would require voters being willing to break new ground. But in recent years, Emmy voters have proved they will back superhero shows in the major categories. Prime Video’s The Boys was nominated for Drama Series in 2021. That same year, WandaVision got a whopping 23 nominations. Sure, a Best Drama nomination for a show that got its start as a Saturday-morning cartoon for kids would be a big feat of salesmanship, but the rewards would be groundbreaking, headline-making. In the long history of animated television shows, only twice have animated shows been nominated in the Emmys’ top-two categories: The Flintstones in 1961 and Family Guy in 2009. Both were in Outstanding Comedy Series. It’s never happened in Drama Series. Maybe there’s never been a reason for it to happen in Drama Series. But there’s a great one now.