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Neve Campbell has signed on to voice Polaris in season 2 of X-Men ’97, Comic Book Movie is reporting. The animated series’ former showrunner, Beau DeMayo, has confirmed the news of the Scream star’s casting in its sophomore season.
DeMayo said on X: “She does amazing work bringing something new, and it felt right to have a ’90s icon pick up where Lorna’s story was left in Cold Comfort. She’s got some thoughts on Genosha.”
Polaris is the alias of Dr. Lorna Sally Dane, who was introduced in the late 1960s. Years later, she was revealed to be Magneto’s daughter, and has similar powers to him, including being able to control magnetism
Lorna also suffers from mental health issues, including bipolar disorder, which gets exacerbated by repeated episodes of brainwashing and other trauma. As a result, she frequently loses control and turns on her fellow mutant heroes.
Besides the Polaris alias, the doctor has also been known as Malice. She has also taken on the alias of one of Apocalypse’s Four Horsemen, Pestilence.
The confirmation of Campbell’s casting as Polaris in season 2 of X-Men ’97 comes after there was discussion amongst Marvel fans online about which character the actress would play. Many fans thought she joined the currently in production feature, Avengers: Doomsday. Other fans thought she may appear in the new X-Men film, which Thunderbolts* helmer Jake Schreier is in early talks to direct.
Polaris made her live-action debut on the FOX television series, The Gifted. The character was played by Emma Dumont on the superhero show, which was set in an alternate timeline to the X-Men movie series.
Brad Winderbaum, who serves as the Head of Streaming, Television and Animation at Marvel Studios, recently confirmed that season 2 of X-Men ’97 will premiere on Disney+ next year.
“Season 2 of X-Men ’97 is going to be in ’26. We’re working on it now,” Winderbaum told Collider. “It’s exciting…Honestly, I can’t believe they let me make it. I grew up at Marvel, clocked a lot of time here, and I feel like I used a lot of currency to revive this thing that I loved watching after school. So, the fact that we get to play in that universe with those actors is honestly why I went into this business in the first place.”
The production and development executive also offered hints on whether Marvel is developing more animated shows or a feature film in the universe. “It’s all in the preliminary. As you know, we’re developing more than we make, so I don’t want to announce anything before it’s ready. But there’s hopefully some exciting stuff on the horizon,” he said.
The Disney+ show is serving as a revival of an animated series that first aired 25 years ago. But Marvel has decided to currently keep X-Men ’97 in the original era of the 1990s.
During an interview with Discussing Film last year, supervising director Jake Castorena spoke about whether Marvel intends to keep the 1990s aesthetic in the show. He also delved into whether he anticipates the series taking influence from later comic books for the upcoming second season.
“We touched on that, even in season one with E is for Extinction, which was definitely not of the ’90s run per se but in the zeitgeist of the era that came a little later,” the supervising producer of Marvel Studios’ animation department said.
“Once so much time passes, that’s pretty much late ’90s — we’re still dressing like that. That’s how I validate it, ‘When did the clothing style change?’ That’s the time we’re in. We play with a little time fudging, like in E is for Extinction,” Castorena continued.
“But there are 30-plus years since the show’s been over where the comics have expanded. Speaking in comic book lore, past and present, X-Men is and always should be an allegory for prejudice, first and foremost. The minute you take that element away, you’ve automatically taken away the excellence,” Castorena added.
Besides Campbell, X-Men ’97‘s voice cast includes Ray Chase as Cyclops, Jennifer Hale as Jean Grey, Alison Sealy-Smith as Storm, Cal Dodd as Wolverine, JP Karliak as Morph, Lenore Zann as Rogue, George Buza as Beast, AJ LoCascio as Gambit, Holly Chou as Jubilee, Isaac Robinson-Smith as Bishop, Matthew Waterson as Magneto and Adrian Hough as Nightcrawler.
X-Men ’97 follows a band of mutants as they use their uncanny gifts to protect a world that hates and fears them. They’re challenged like never before, and forced to face a dangerous and unexpected new future.
So far no casting has been announced for the new live-action X-Men film. However, several veteran X-Men actors are scheduled to appear in Avengers: Doomsday, including Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Rebecca Romijn, Alan Cumming and James Marsden.