The show\u2019s success with both fans and critics is in large part due to its commitment to honor the original \u201890s show, about a group of mutants fighting for themselves and for humanity, not only by preserving its hand-drawn animation style and mature themes but also the voices and personalities of the characters.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I pitched the show to Kevin [Feige], he got it immediately and his first question was, \u2018Are you going to get the original cast back?\u2019 And I was like, \u2018Yes, we are,\u2019\u201d says Brad Winderbaum, head of Marvel Television, Animation, Comics and Franchise at Marvel Studios.<\/p>\n
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Several voice actors from the original \u201cX-Men\u201d animated series returned for \u201cX-Men \u201897,\u201d which has returned for Season 2. From left, Beast (George Buza), Bishop (Isaac Robinson-Smith), Rogue (Lenore Zann), Professor X (Ross Marquand), Magneto (Matthew Waterson) and Nightcrawler (Adrian Hough).<\/p>\n
(Marvel)<\/p>\n
Not everyone was still around to return \u2014 Norm Spencer, voice of Cyclops, died in 2020 \u2014 but in addition to Zann, actors George Buza (Beast), Alison Sealy-Smith (Storm), and Cal Dodd, the voice of the lovable clawed grouch Wolverine, have reprised their roles in \u201cX-Men \u201997.\u201d Their emblematic voice performances, Winderbaum says, are baked into his psyche.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny time Lenore says the word \u2018sugah,\u2019 it just makes me melt into a puddle on the floor,\u201d Winderbaum says, laughing. \u201cShe is Rogue and, when she turns it on, she becomes an icon.\u201d<\/p>\n
Busy with her political career as part of Canada\u2019s parliament, Zann stepped away from the entertainment business for over a decade. Zann was back home in Truro, Nova Scotia, figuring out her next chapter when she received an email from a friend who said producers at Disney were looking to have her audition for a show. She was skeptical.<\/p>\n
Zann eventually got a call from casting director Meredith Layne and a screenplay with lines that were instantly familiar from her time voicing Rogue, the spunky heroine whose touch can be deadly, in the \u201890s.<\/p>\n
\u201dI thought, \u2018I guess they\u2019re looking for Rogue, so I\u2019ll just give them Rogue,\u2019\u201d she recalls, laughing. \u201cAnd I did my Rogue voice, which is basically just my own, but with a bit of a Southern accent thrown on,\u201d she adds with a slight twang.<\/p>\n
The producers then asked her if she would reprise her superhero for a new generation of kids.<\/p>\n
Doing her Rogue voice, Zann recalls: \u201cI said, \u2018You had me at hello, sugah.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
She revels in the similarities between her and Rogue. \u201cWe\u2019re both social justice warriors. We really fight for people to be accepted as who they are.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2024, Zann published \u201cA Rogue\u2019s Tale: A Memoir,\u201d a tome recounting her storied life, titled after a memorable episode in the \u201890s series that revealed her beloved mutant\u2019s backstory.<\/p>\n
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Wolverine in a scene from Season 2 of \u201cX-Men \u201997.\u201d<\/p>\n
(Marvel)<\/p>\n
For Dodd, leaving behind Wolverine after five seasons of the original show felt like losing a part of himself. \u201cX-Men \u201997\u201d offered him a chance to feel complete once again.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was so happy because when I first created the voice of Wolverine in \u201892, he became very quickly like my brother or my right arm,\u201d Dodd says during a recent video call. \u201cI got my arm back, and my brother.\u201d<\/p>\n
After all these years, Dodd was also pleased to see how the most important character of his career looked in the new series. \u201cOut walks Wolverine and I just went, \u2018Holy crap, you look great, bub,\u2019\u201d he recalls, laughing about his first time recording lines for \u201cX-Men \u201897.\u201d<\/p>\n
When he first auditioned for the role in the \u201890s, Dodd had no idea who Wolverine or the X-Men were. At the time, he was making a living as a singer for commercials and jingles in Toronto.<\/p>\n
Dodd remembers the lines he was asked to deliver were directed at the villainous mutant Sabretooth. He had never seen an image of Wolverine or any of the characters. \u201cAt one point, I said to them, \u2018Is this an animal cartoon?\u2019 They just thought I was a complete imbecile,\u201d he recalls with a chuckle.<\/p>\n
In that initial scene, where Sabretooth attacked Jubilee, a member of the X-Men who Wolverine sees as a daughter, his line was: \u201cAll right, you egg-sucking piece of gutter trash. You always like pushing around people shorter than you. Well, I\u2019m shorter. Try pushing me.\u201d Dodd recites it from memory in Wolverine\u2019s voice with a growl.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe lines I was reading, I\u2019d heard them before in the small town that I grew up in Canada; it\u2019s a fisherman\u2019s town, a tough little town,\u201d says Dodd about his reference for Wolverine\u2019s voice. \u201cI knew guys that were exactly like him, and I knew the way they sounded.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even without any notion of the X-Men, he nailed it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe next morning, they called me and said, \u2018We would love to have you as our Wolverine for the very first X-Men animated series,\u2019\u201d Dodd recalls. \u201cAnd I said, \u2018I would love to be your Wolverine, whoever, and whatever he is.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
1 <\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1783684332_736_.jpeg\")
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2 <\/p>\n
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1. Cal Dodd, voice actor for Wolverine in \u201cX-Men \u201997.\u201d 2. Lenore Zann, who voices Rogue. (Pauline Aguirre) <\/p>\n
When Rogue came into Zann\u2019s life, she already had a notable career as a screen and stage actor. Zann had starred as Marilyn Monroe in a rock opera about the actor\u2019s life, for which she received much praise. \u201cMy agent called me and she said, \u2018Lenore, they\u2019re doing this animated series, and they\u2019re looking for \u201ca woman with a deep husky, sexy voice who can do a Southern accent,\u201d\u2019\u201d Zann recalls, laughing. \u201cAnd she said, \u2018That\u2019s you!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Back then, Zann wasn\u2019t interested in doing voice work, so she missed the first auditions. But about a month later, she says, her agent called again. They still hadn\u2019t found the right voice, so she pushed Zann to audition. She walked in and looked at a drawing of Rogue that Larry Houston, the storyboard artist and director of the show, had drawn.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe had a very sassy attitude, and she had her hand on her hip and her head back with the hair flowing. I was like, \u2018Yeah, I can do that.\u2019 And then I went into the studio, put the headphones on, and opened up my mouth, did the first line: \u2018I remember I had a boyfriend, when I kissed him, poor boy went into a coma for three days,\u2019\u201d she says in Rogue\u2019s voice. That was enough for her to land the life-changing part.<\/p>\n