The original voice actors who returned to X-Men '97 revealed that they still have to audition to reprise their roles in the new series.
The majority of the voice actors from the original X-Men: The Animated Series were brought back for the revival to the delight of many fans as the transition became seamless even with the large gap between the two versions.
However, despite being involved in the original series, the voice actors who returned still have to re-audition again to prove that they still have the chops to voice the iconic characters.
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X-Men '97 Original Voice Actors Have to Re-Audition for Their Roles
In an interview with IGN, Cal Dodd, who voices Wolverine, and Lenore Zann, who voices Rogue, revealed that they still have to undergo audition to secure their roles in X-Men '97.
Dodd recalled the "obscure" process he underwent during his audition process to voice Wolverine again in the series.
"The scene that they picked [for the audition] was so obscure... 'What do you mean? He doesn't yell at anyone here, or scream or be ignorant or be funny, underhanded funny?' he explained.
The Wolverine voice actor shared that he performed a scene where Wolverine was found up North after he's left the X-Men "and the people are all celebrating because Wolverine fishes better than everyone."
He continued, "But that's a scene that they picked me to do, and so unlike Wolverine, the voice that he ends up doing all the time. I found that interesting."
Meanwhile, Zann received a mysterious email about an audition for a secret Disney project and she was asked to read the lines from the original series.
"They were the lines from the original show. And I was like, 'Oh! It's Rogue! I'll just do Rogue.' And so I did it, and sent it off. And about a month later, three weeks later, I got a call saying, 'Yeah, the producers want to meet with you on Zoom,'" she recalled.
"So then we went on Zoom, and they got me to read with Meredith [Layne, casting director,] on Zoom, and then at the end of it they were like, 'Oh my god, Lenore, we just love you. Would you please be in the show? Because we really want you in the show.' I was like, 'Absolutely! You got me.'"
While this might be unusual for some fans, it is a standard process in the industry and the producers may just want to make sure that the voice actors still sound like how the characters were in the original.
In the end, they were able to get almost every surviving original cast member to return for the new series whether it's for the same role or another character.
Despite the long gap since X-Men: The Animated Series ended, the revival still has the DNA of the original and it contributed to the fans' enjoyment of the new series.
New episodes of X-Men '97 premiere every Wednesday on Disney+.
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