The reasons behind X-Men ’97 creator Beau DeMayo’s firing from the Marvel series are still a mystery, and he still hasn’t addressed what happened—but he did break his internet silence for the first time after leaving the show this week to answer fan questions about the critically well-received series.
DeMayo acknowledged that there were a “lotta questions” in his newest post to social media, but he’s not yet answering the question—why left the show. The questions he answered Wednesday evening into the wee hours through a lengthy post and several replies came from fans who wanted to know about the creative decisions behind some of the series’ critical moments and its latest episode, which DeMayo said he would “momentarily break silence to answer.”
The writer and show creator who also worked on Blade and Moon Knight, suddenly exited the show a week before its premiere, with The Hollywood Reporter reporting that his company email was deactivated and his Instagram account was briefly deactivated. Marvel’s head of animation Brad Winderbaum told Entertainment Weekly that he wouldn’t categorize DeMayo’s exit as a firing, but couldn't provide further details: “We parted ways is the best way I could say,” Winderbaum said at the time.
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DeMayo has yet to publicly address the matter, but rumors that his departure may have been a behavior-related disciplinary action from Marvel have circulated heavily. DeMayo had reportedly not gotten on well with his fellow writers on Netflix’s The Witcher.
That said, the former showrunner is focusing on the positive fan reception of his latest project, and providing intimate details about his creative process. “The idea being to have the X-Men mirror the journey that any of us who grew up on the original show have experienced since being kids in the 90s” was “the centerpiece” of his original pitch to Marvel, he wrote of the show’s latest episode (with spoilers).
“For the most part, to our young minds, the world was a simple place of right and wrong, where questions about identity and social justice had relatively clear cut answers,” he continued. “Then 9/11 happened, and the world turned against itself. Things weren't so safe anymore.”
DeMayo went on to describe more of the emotional backdrop behind his writing of the series. “The nation struggled to deal with collective trauma and fracture at the seams of every diverse demographic,” he said, adding that the series reflects “effects we still feel today, and have only been exacerbated by more collective traumas like COVID or several recessions.”
He also wrote about the influence the events of 9/11 had over him as a person and writer, as well as “Tulsa, Charlottesville, or Pulse Nightclub [shooting].”
“9/11 was also when I came out of the closet to my family and realized not everyone would accept me,” he wrote, “It’s when I entered college and noticed that certain groups avoided me, or that a Supercuts in Tallahassee refused to service me because they didn't do ‘ethnic haircuts.’”
DeMayo went on to address some of the more pertinent questions he’s received about the intentionality behind some of the show’s most provocative moments before concluding that the series asks whether our current moment is a time for “social justice” or “ a time for social healing.”
