Something incredibly strange just happened over at Disney, a so-far mysterious situation where X-Men 97 creator, Beau DeMayo, was fired just a single week before the show’s March 20 release date.
It was exceptionally abrupt. His email was deactivated and the cast and crew of the show were told he was off the project. He wouldn’t promote the show or be involved with future seasons. Even his Instagram, which once provided X-Men 97 show updates, was deleted.
This is, of course, pretty bizarre, and Disney has given no reason for the firing. Beau was also not just associated with X-Men 97. He wrote for Moon Knight and had done early Blade script drafts.
If his name may at all sound familiar, it’s because he was wrapped up in a different sort of controversy a while back. He gave a widely circulated quote about his time working on The Witcher for Netflix:
“I’ve been on show – namely Witcher – where some of the writers were not or actively disliked the books and games (even actively mocking the source material.) It’s a recipe for disaster and bad morale. Fandom as a litmus test checks egos, and makes all the long nights worth it. You have to respect the work before you’re allowed to add to its legacy.”
This blew up and created an often still-running narrative that those behind The Witcher series did not like the source material, and when Henry Cavill left the show, it was frequently brought up as potential justification (a firm reason for his departure was never given).
However, other writers on the show pushed back against DeMayo, saying his narrative was false, and insulting him:
““It’s pretty Cool™️ and Fun™️ to try and talk about how much you love your job and then get replies like this cause some asshole you used to work with made up a bunch of lies to your fanbase to cover up how he got fired for being an asshole and now that’s the narrative,” said writer Matthew D’ambrosio.
As for what happened with DeMayo and X-Men 97, it sounds serious. While creators often leave projects, this is incredibly sudden and a full cut-off from the looks of it, and that doesn’t sound like “creative differences” or someone who is simply disliked. There will likely be further reporting on what exactly happened here, but for now, too much speculation is not going to be helpful. But if X-Men 97 does live on after one season here, it will not be with DeMayo.
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