X-Men ’97: Rogue Voice Actor’s Emmy-worth Performance in One Heartbreaking Scene Was Deeply Inspired By a Real-life Tragedy
X-Men ’97 is the follow-up to the animated series X-Men: The Animated Series, which aired from 1992 to 1997. Nearly three decades after the conclusion of the original series, the revival of the show attracted a lot of the original audience as well as new ones. Saying that this new show has done well would be like saying Deadpool has a twisted sense of humor.
While some of the voice actors had to be re-cast due to various reasons, some reprised their roles from the original show. One of these is Rogue voice actor Lenore Zann, and she recently opened up about the real-life tragedy that influenced her performance in a heartwrenching scene in the show.
Lenore Zann Revealed the Real-Life Experience That Led to Her Phenomenal Performance in X-Men ’97
X-Men ’97 marked Marvel Studios’ first X-Men project since the company regained the film and TV rights to the superhero team in 2019. The series begins a year after the original series as the mutant team continues to face new challenges under the leadership of Magneto in the absence of Xavier.
The fifth episode of the series saw the massacre of thousands of mutants at the hands of robot Sentinels while the heroes were celebrating in their island nation of Genosha. It came as a shock as it evoked a range of emotional feelings for the viewers.
The episode ended with Gambit’s death and his partner Rogue’s reaction was something that alone was enough for the voice actor Lenore Zann to win an award. Recently, Zann opened up about it in an interview with Collider and revealed how the passing of her niece influenced the performance.
My little 17-year-old niece Maya [who] passed away from cancer after a huge struggle. Watching her struggle and then having her pass away and being with her on her deathbed and touching her and she was cold was really an emotional uh experience and I decided that that I would put all of my pain and grief into my voice so that others would hear it and it would be authentic when Rogue loses Gambit.
The actress said that judging from the reactions she saw online and the conversations she had with people at the Comic-Con, she had been successful in achieving what she intended to.
Brad Winderbaum Knew Gambit’s Death Had to Be Done Right
Pain and tragedy are the harsh truths of life, but depicting the feeling on the screen with the same intensity demands a certain level of perfection. If done right, the passing of a beloved character can cause a lot of pain, and if not, there is obviously going to be backlash from the viewers.
Executive producer Brad Winderbaum told Variety that he understood this, and hence, he knew that a lot was at stake if Gambit had to die and it was not depicted well.
The death of Gambit was something that kept us all up at night. Once we made the decision to do it, we knew it would be devastating. We knew it was on us to have to earn it, in the writing, in the directing, in the long setup of four episodes before it aired.
Winderbaum also claimed that he cried at that scene at every screening of the episode and the creators were very anxious about the kind of reaction that fans might have. Luckily for them, fans were heartbroken but did not feel that it was unjustified.
X-Men ’97 is available for streaming on Disney+.
