George Buza, the voice actor for Beast in X-Men: The Animated Series, has explained why the character was sidelined for most of season 1 of the show. The veteran voice actor, who has performed in over 150 movies and TV shows, including a brief cameo as the trucker who picks up Rogue in the first X-Men movie, found his character sidelined in the first season of the early 90s animated show.
In the second episode of the show, Beast is arrested and thrown in jail for infiltrating the Mutant Control Agency and is only seen in brief cameos throughout the rest of the season as he languishes in prison. However, the character is helped to escape in season 2, and from that point on plays a much more significant role in the series, eventually appearing in more episodes of X-Men: The Animated Series than any other character, besides the ever-popular Wolverine.
Now, Buza has revealed why Beast wasn't around for most of season 1. Speaking on the X-Men: The Animated Series reunion panel as part of the Wizard World Virtual Experiences 2020 event, Buza says that the producers of the show didn't think Beast was a strong enough character to form part of the core cast. Buza adds that he wasn't pleased with the decision, but stuck around to help the character become an iconic part of the show. You can read his full comments below.
I wasn't exactly thrilled with being in jail during the entire first season. That was a production decision. According to the producers, Beast was not even going to be in the regular cast for the entire spectrum of the show. It was only after the first season that they realized that he would be a better addition to the cast, and they sprung him out.
Larry Houston, who was a producer and director on X-Men: The Animated Series and appeared on the panel with Buza, confirmed that this was the case. Houston added that Beast wasn't going to be part of the core cast because producers were worried the cast was too big for a children's animated show. However, he concludes by saying that the character's role was expanded due to the excellent writing on the show, allowing for multiple stories to be told, and thanks to Buza's strong vocal performance.
The character's fate in season 1 of the animated show is similar to what happened to him in the first X-Men trilogy. Beast didn't appear in either of the first two movies and was added to X-Men: The Last Stand played by Kelsey Grammer, where he was finally able to hold his own alongside the other classic X-Men characters. Beast then became a core member of the team following the reboot of the series with X-Men: First Class, where he was portrayed by Nicholas Hoult, who reprised the role in X-Men: Days of Future Past, X-Men: Apocalypse and X-Men: Dark Phoenix.
Thankfully, the producers on X-Men: The Animated Series saw the light and gave Beast a larger role in later seasons, allowing the character to become the emotional core of the show. It also allowed Buza to show off his voice acting chops, as he was called on to both rage and cry as Beast, among a range of emotions. With talk of a limited revival of the series, it will be interesting to see what kind of role Beast takes in the narrative.
Source: Wizard World Virtual Experiences 2020
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