Fan Expo Canada 2026 has come and gone, and once again it brought together fans, creators, artists, and performers from across the worlds of comics, film, television, gaming, and pop culture.  The convention is more than a celebration of fandom, it is a place where generations of fans can come together to revisit great stories. The fans also revisit the characters that shaped their childhoods while discovering what comes next. Among the many franchises celebrated at this year’s event, few carry the same lasting cultural impact as the X-Men. The animation show’s legacy continues to resonate with audiences decades after first appearing on television.

For an entire generation, X-Men: The Animated Series, which debuted in 1992, was a defining introduction to the world of Marvel’s mutants. The series went beyond superhero action, tackling themes of prejudice, discrimination, identity, belonging, and social acceptance through characters such as Wolverine, Storm, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Rogue, and Gambit. Its enduring popularity helped establish the X-Men as a cultural phenomenon for young viewers and longtime comic fans alike. More than three decades later, X-Men ’97 breathed new life into that legacy, continuing the story and preserving the visual style, emotional storytelling, and spirit of its predecessor while introducing the franchise to a new generation. Its success demonstrated just how powerful the original series remains, and how stories created in the 1990s can still find relevance and meaning with audiences today.

During FanExpo, several of the cast, including Cal Dodd (Wolverine), George Buza (Beast), Chris Potter (Gambit), and Cedric Smith (Professor X), alongside producer/director Larry Houston, took to the stage to discuss the series, and their thoughts on it.

For most of the cast, they didn’t know anything about the X-Men, or what a mutant was.  All they knew was that they were auditioning for a secret project called Project X. That is, except for Buza. He’d been a collector of comic book long before the casting call, and had even bought the first issue when it came out back in 1963. Dodd on the other hand, didn’t even know what a Wolverine or a Sabretooth was, other than animals, which led him to believe his character might actually be an animal.

Potter, who was by far the most recognizable of the cast due to his performance on Kung-Fu: A Legend Reborn,  didn’t even know anything about the Cajun people, let alone how they spoke, and stumbled through creating a voice for Gambit. Once the show started moving however, the entire cast felt as if they were part of something special.

X-Men after all, explained Houston, are not just about fighting and explosions. They are about family and inclusion. They teach their fans about finding ways to live alongside humans, who both hate and fear them.  Some of the actors even told stories about how their characters saved people’s lives. Smith for instance told a story about someone who reached out to him to thank them for helping them look at life differently. It taught him how art, even cartoons, can play a significant part in people’s live.

With the second season of X-Men 97 having just concluded on Disney, fans can expect to see a third season in about a year or so. That in itself is something to look forward to, for both fans and creators alike.