EXCLUSIVE: X-Men ’97 star Jennifer Hale talks season 2 and returning as Jean Grey

As X-Men ’97 continues the epic saga of Marvel’s mutant heroes, voice actor Jennifer Hale returns as one of the team’s most iconic members, Jean Grey. After the events of season 1, the show follows the X-Men, who have been scattered across history, as they try to return to their original era and prevent the rise of their most powerful enemy: Apocalypse.

In an interview with Digital Trends, Hale discussed returning to voice Jean Grey after doing so in many of Marvel’s animated projects. She also broke down the evolution of Jean’s character and what fans can expect from season 2 of X-Men ’97.

This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

Digital Trends: How does it feel to be voicing such an iconic character in such a popular show right now? 

Hale: Man, I feel like I… I won the golden ticket. It is incredible. I love it. This show, [when] I first booked this, I was thrilled.

I love the director. I have to shout out our voice director, Meredith Layne. She’s incredible. Voice directors are these sort of unsung heroes that make us all sound incredible. And she really, especially with the role, what the team has done with Jean in this incarnation of the show. 

There’s Jean, there’s Goblin Queen, there’s Madelyne Pryor. There’s all these iterations, and to have Meredith there as a guide is incredible. And to be part of this cast and to follow in Catherine [Disher]’s footsteps is just such a, such a huge honor. And I love this show. 

I love this team. This team is insane. The writing is incredible. And what I love is that so many of the production crew grew up watching the show. You can see it, right?

Digital Trends: Yeah, the passion is there, and I’m a huge fan of the show as well, and you did a fantastic job playing Jean Grey. This isn’t actually the first time you voiced her. You portrayed her in previous Marvel animated shows. Why do you keep returning to the character after all this time?

Hale: You can’t stop me…the thing about the voiceover world, the actors, my peers in the voiceover industry are ridiculously talented. And a few of us get to be Jean, and I am so grateful that I get to be her in the places that I am. I absolutely love it. I could go on about it, obviously.

Digital Trends: Oh, well, please do. 

Hale: Yeah, it’s amazing. It’s just absolutely amazing. It’s so funny.  This whole thing around sharing roles…I’ve been Rogue before, and Lenore [Zann] is just incredible as Rogue. She’s the OG, right? 

Yeah. And she’s amazing, and she’s just such an incredible human being, too. Yeah, this whole cast, I mean, I don’t even want to start, ’cause I’m gonna leave people out, and then I’m gonna feel terrible, but every single member of this cast, like, ‘Hello, what a great job.’ And our newer people. Oh, my gosh, the new additions this season. Look out!

Digital Trends: Yeah. I know you got the younger Cable in season 2 from Obsession actor Michael Johnston. He did a really good job in that role. Honestly, I couldn’t believe it was him. And speaking of which, like a big part of the show’s season was Jean and Scott’s relationship with their son, Nathan. It expands on what happened in season one. Can you tell us what makes it so special in season two?

Hale: Oh, the fact that we actually have to see him again…we gave him up in season 1. We didn’t know…we just had to trust, and it didn’t go the way we planned. That’s all I’m gonna say for those who don’t watch. But to get to see him again, to get to be in his life again, is just, ‘Wow, what a great, great moment!’ Right? 

Digital Trends: Right. And so what has been your favorite moment in the series so far?

Hale: All of it? I don’t know. I love…Oh, man. That’s really hard to say. Don’t make me pick. That’s what I always say. Yeah.  I think I just, I have to say, what you just touched on, the reconnecting with Cable. That whole arc. I just love that so much. And I’m not gonna say anything else, ’cause I don’t want to accidentally hit spoilers.

Digital Trends: Right. And without giving away any spoilers, what else can fans expect from this season of X-Men ’97? 

Hale: Mm, that is the tightrope. Don’t know that I can walk [it]. So all I’m gonna say is buckle up. All right. 

Digital Trends: I’m buckled up. And now, tell us, what is your approach to bringing these iconic characters to life as a voice actor? You’ve done so many different roles, and I bet it’s just a different thing each time. How do you do it? 

Hale: It’s all about the writing. Writers make the world go round. It all starts with the writers…and these are incredible scripts. Everything’s there. So it really begins and ends with the writing.

I bring in what my creativity says, and then there’s the voice director, and the voice director’s taking everything that the whole production team is saying, and funneling it through her to me, or to us actors. And so, that is incredibly important. And staying open with this show is very interesting. 

When we did season one…the first time we recorded it, we recorded it in this total OG style, with the ’90s acting and the whole thing. So it was very different….and so we went back and tinkered with it, and we went away from that, and then back to it, and then we kind of found this middle ground where we get to honor it.

And most of the time, the way we’re set up, we’re recording solo, but there are times when Ray [Chase] and I get to record together, and Ray is so incredible. There have been moments when we…we actually got to be in the actual booth together at the same time, and that was amazing. But we can also do remote together, and just playing off each other is so valuable, so incredible.

Digital Trends: Absolutely. And… you’re already working on seasons 3 and 4 of the show. How’s that going so far? 

Hale: Oh my gosh. It’s incredible. I can’t wait for you guys to see it. I just can’t wait. I’m backing up to your earlier question about the moments that I love. I was just thinking about some of this stuff with Morph and Polaris and Emma Frost…everybody’s getting a moment, and I love that. Absolutely love that.

Digital Trends: Me, too. I mean, considering you’re already working on the fourth season of the show, how long do you think it could go on?

Hale: Well, we’re at 30 years now, so who knows?

Digital Trends: On that note, like what other projects do you have in store for fans?

Hale: I can always talk about Unicorn Academy, ’cause that’s going on right now, and I know it’s safe to talk about. We just wrapped the game called The Long Dark, which just wrapped our last chapter, and it’s incredibly beautiful. I’m working on some game stuff that is insane and some very cool animated stuff coming out. But again, NDA. Can’t talk about any of it…and then, I’m working on SkillsHub all the time, my site for actors.

Digital Trends: Fantastic. Is there anything else you’d like to say to the fans?

Hale: I want to say a huge thank you to the fans. Thank you, Anthony, for this time. And thank you, Digital Trends, for having me on. The fans, oh my gosh. You guys are our community, because you’re there, we get to do this, and we do this for you. So we are totally in symbiosis, I think it’s called. We are totally a circle. So just, thank you so much.

X-Men ’97 is now available to stream on Disney+.