What to expect from highly-anticipated 'X-Men '97' season 2 on Disney+

The highly anticipated second season of "X-Men '97" is streaming on Disney+.

The first season of "X-Men '97" is one of the most-watched original animated series.

Perhaps the secret to that success stems from the fact that the creative team has been animating the heroic mutant team of superheroes since the '90s.

"We developed the show over our dining room table," says Executive Producer Eric Lewald, "and this is the one where all the magic came together."

Married TV writers, producers and showrunners Eric and Julia Lewald are the show's executive producers.

They've been working on animating the X-Men since the '90s.

As they well know, for decades, the team of mutant superheroes has had a loyal legion of superfans.

"I think the genius in what the X-Men are is a group of teens, young people, who were being shunned or ostracized because they started to become different because of the way they were born," says Julia. "Society didn't like that."

"All sorts of people come up to us that don't quite feel like they're part of their community, who don't quite feel like they're part of the mainstream culture," adds Eric. "The word that came to us when we started doing the cons and talking to fans was it's like a 'found family.' They accept each other and look out for each other."

In this new season, the X-Men have to find each other as they're divided and thrown across different eras in time.

They are struggling to navigate their way home and they are also up against a familiar foe.

"It gets to be pretty much all about them dealing with Apocalypse," says Eric.

Larry Houston is also an executive producer who has been with the X-Men since the '90s.

As a mega fan himself, he describes this animated series as "a comic book that was never printed, but we are giving it to you on screen."

"Working on this series has been an enormous amount of fun," says Houston.

But can they beat Apocalypse this time?

"That's the thing everybody's got to wait for," laughs Houston. "You'll enjoy it when you get there."

Season 2 of "X-Men '97" returns to Disney+ with a special three-episode premiere on July 1.

The remaining six episodes will air over the subsequent weeks, with the final episode airing August 12.

The Walt Disney Company is the parent company of this ABC station.