What Would X-Men: The Animated Series Season 6 Look Like?

When recently asked by SyFy Wire what he would do if he got one more season of X-Men: The Animated Series, showrunner Eric Lewald took a moment to consider where the series finale, “Graduation Day,” left off – with Charles Xavier heading off into space with his alien lover Lilandra, leaving his X-Men to finally grow up and take charge for the younger generation – and came back with one hell of an answer.

“Season Six could open, months later, with the X-Men in disarray – a few gone, the ones remaining at each other’s throats. They miss their leader. Then somehow they are called to – and transported to – an existential crisis on Lilandra’s distant world. The team grudgingly reunites ‘for Charles,’ heads off to space, solves the crisis, and a somehow-healed Charles Xavier is either able to return to Earth with them or, if he can’t, his heroic final sacrifice heals the team’s wounds and they return to Earth as the proper X-Men again.”

Hmm… well…

Having heard Lewald speak in person as well as having devoured his recently released book, Previously On X-Men: The Making of An Animated Series, I find it completely in line with his devotion to character and genuine interpersonal conflict. An arc in space that brings Xavier back into the story is certainly a solid jumping off point, but I don’t think a whole season of the X-Men in space could really hold together without the show becoming something completely different from what it was. That said…

To have the X-Men essentially broken, seeking out their mentor to bring him back to Earth, expecting his return will fix all their problems… only to have him be like, “Sorry, kids. School’s out. I can throw you some advice here and there, but it’s your mess now. You clean it up.” That would be fucking gold.

To have Xavier still around, still doing stuff, but liberated in that way only a parent of newly minted adults can be would be so fascinating. To have Charles free to pursue his own life, personal and political, without having to check back in to make sure no one burned down the mansion, coming and going from space vacations in his alien girlfriend’s fucking palace while the X-Men realize that Charles or no Charles, it’s all on them now…  it wouldn’t even matter who the season’s villain was. I would watch the shit out of that sixth season, and I would love it.

Come on, Netflix. Make this happen. You raised Full House’s diabetic corpse from the dead. There has to be something you can do about this!