Newton Brothers discuss X-Men '97 soundtrack creation
Season 2 of X-Men '97 landed on Disney+ in summer 2026, and the question on many fans' minds wasn't just about the animation or the storylines. It was about the music. We had the chance to dig into that subject with Andy Grush and Taylor Newton Stewart, the two composers behind the score, collectively known as The Newton Brothers. What came out of that conversation was a fascinating window into how music shapes a superhero story far beyond what the visuals alone can carry.
Building on the emotional wreckage of season 1
The first season of X-Men '97 ended with a finale that genuinely shook viewers. Characters suffered, relationships fractured, and the emotional stakes were raised to a level that few animated series dare to reach. For The Newton Brothers, that wasn't just a narrative challenge. It was a compositional one.
"We couldn't pretend season 1 hadn't happened," Andy Grush explained. "Every theme we brought back had to carry the weight of what the characters had been through." That means familiar musical motifs return in season 2, but they arrive transformed. A heroic phrase from an earlier episode might now feel uncertain, even fragile, because the character it represents has been changed by loss.
Taylor Newton Stewart described the process as emotional archaeology : digging through what had been established, then deciding what survives and what doesn't. New characters introduced in season 2 brought fresh musical ideas, expanding the sonic world of the series rather than simply repeating established patterns. That balance, between honoring the existing sound and pushing into new territory, defined much of their creative work this season.
- Loss and grief : recurring themes recontextualized through slower tempos and minor harmonies
- Resilience : rhythmic drive maintained even in darker passages
- Hope : sparse, upward melodic lines that emerge gradually across the season arc
What strikes us, tracking the series across streaming platforms, is how much the score does the heavy lifting in episodes where dialogue is sparse. The music becomes the emotional narrator.
The sonic palette : vintage synths, choir, and everything in between
X-Men '97 has always occupied a specific sonic space : nostalgic enough to honor the 1990s animated classic, but modern enough to feel cinematic. The Newton Brothers leaned fully into that duality for season 2.
Their toolkit is genuinely eclectic. Vintage and modern synthesizers sit alongside drum machines, live orchestra, choir, electric guitars, and solo voices. Percussion plays a central role, grounding the more experimental textures in something physical and immediate. "We never wanted it to feel like a retro exercise," Taylor Newton Stewart told us. "The '90s sounds are a reference point, not a ceiling."
| Sound element | Primary function in the score |
|---|---|
| Vintage synthesizers | Nostalgic texture, character leitmotifs |
| Orchestra | Dramatic weight, emotional peaks |
| Choir | Heroic moments, spiritual undertones |
| Drum machines | Action sequences, rhythmic energy |
| Solo voice | Intimacy, character vulnerability |
The result is a score that can shift from dark and intimate to thrilling and heroic within a single episode, sometimes within a single scene. Andy Grush noted that a few cues were deliberately written to feel "heartbreaking and inspiring at the same time," which is a compositional tightrope that very few shows attempt. The fact that it works repeatedly across season 2 says something about the craft involved.
From animation to live-action : composing for Daredevil : Born Again
The Newton Brothers didn't spend 2026 exclusively in the world of mutants. They also worked on Daredevil : Born Again, Marvel's live-action return to Hell's Kitchen, also available on Disney+. We asked them directly : what actually changes when you move from an animated Marvel project to a live-action one ?
The answer was more nuanced than expected. In animation, the music often drives the emotional reality of a scene, because the visuals are more stylized and the performances, while excellent, lack the micro-expressions a live actor delivers. In live-action, the score has to breathe differently. It supports rather than leads. "With Daredevil, Charlie Cox gives you so much," Andy Grush said. "Sometimes the best thing we can do is get out of the way."
For those of us watching both series on Disney+ and toggling between them, the tonal contrast is stark. X-Men '97 is bigger, more operatic. Daredevil : Born Again is grittier, more restrained. Both scores reflect those differences precisely. It's worth noting that this kind of compositional versatility, moving between genres and formats within a single franchise, mirrors what other creators are doing across streaming platforms. Troye Sivan and Leland's original music for The Shards is another strong example of musicians crafting sound specifically for a serialized streaming context.
Where to listen and what to watch for next
Both seasons of X-Men '97 and Daredevil : Born Again are currently streaming on Disney+. The soundtracks for both projects are available on major digital platforms, and they reward careful listening even outside the context of the episodes.
If you haven't paid close attention to the music while watching X-Men '97 season 2, consider revisiting a few key episodes with that focus. Listen for how a theme changes across episodes, how a melody that felt triumphant in season 1 returns quieter, slower, weighted by everything that followed. That's not an accident. That's The Newton Brothers doing exactly what the best film and television composers do : making the music remember, even when the characters try to forget.