Beau DeMayo

Beau DeMayo is an American television writer and producer whose most prominent work is Marvel Studios’ animated series X-Men ’97. He developed the Disney+ program as a continuation of X-Men: The Animated Series, the Fox Kids cartoon that aired from 1992 to 1997. X-Men ’97 resumes with the mutant team confronting a world in which anti-mutant politics and personal loyalties remain central. Its first season adapts or reworks story elements associated with Marvel comics, including “Operation: Zero Tolerance,” “Lifedeath,” and “The Trial of Magneto.” DeMayo was credited as creator and executive producer, and he wrote the season’s opening episode, “To Me, My X-Men.”

His television writing credits before X-Men ’97 included Netflix’s The Witcher and Marvel Studios’ live-action Moon Knight. On The Witcher, he was credited as a writer on the first-season episode “Betrayer Moon,” which follows Geralt of Rivia as he seeks the cursed princess Renfri in Blaviken. He also wrote “Of Banquets, Bastards and Burials,” a first-season episode involving Geralt, Yennefer, and the Cintran royal court. For Moon Knight, DeMayo received writing credit on “The Goldfish Problem,” the 2022 series’ premiere, which introduces Steven Grant and his dissociative connection to Marc Spector amid the conflict with Arthur Harrow.

DeMayo joined Marvel Animation after writing for live-action fantasy and superhero series. X-Men ’97 premiered on Disney+ on March 20, 2024, with its first two episodes released together. The program retained numerous performers from the 1990s cast, including Cal Dodd as Wolverine, Lenore Zann as Rogue, and George Buza as Beast. Its first season consists of ten episodes and ends with “Tolerance Is Extinction—Part 3,” an episode DeMayo wrote with co-writer Anthony Sellitti. The finale sends several X-Men to different points in time after Asteroid M is destroyed.

Before the series debuted, Marvel confirmed in March 2024 that it had parted ways with DeMayo. The company did not publicly specify a reason in its initial statement. DeMayo nevertheless remained credited on the released first season as creator and executive producer. His work on X-Men ’97 made him a highly conspicuous figure in a revival built around serialized storytelling rather than isolated adventures. The season follows Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm, Rogue, Gambit, Jubilee, and other X-Men as Magneto inherits Xavier’s mission and anti-mutant violence escalates. That premise culminates in the attack on Genosha, a mutant haven drawn from Marvel comics, and in Bastion’s Sentinel campaign against mutants around the world.