Ryan Coogler’s X-Files reboot is really happening! And it’s being developed for Disney+. Earlier this year, series creator Chris Carter appeared on a radio show to honor the X-Files 30th(!!!!) anniversary. During the interview, he shared that the show would be getting a reboot with Coogler at the helm. While we don’t have a lot of information about the series yet, a recent industry report from Bloomberg says that the show will feature a diverse cast and is currently being developed by Disney.
More paranormal mysteries will be explored with an all-new take on The X-Files. According to a recent report from Bloomberg, details have been shared on several upcoming television shows that are in the works for Netflix, HBO, and Disney. The report noted that Disney is currently developing a reboot of The X-Files that is produced by Ryan Coogler, who directed Creed and the Black Panther movies. There was no information shared about the plot, such as if the new show will be a complete reimagining or if it will connect to the previous series, perhaps with some original characters making appearances.
This report comes several months after original X-Files creator Chris Carter teased the potential reboot. In March, Carter said that Coogler was planning to “remount” The X-Files. Similarly, it wasn’t specified if the new show will be a continuation that follows different characters but is set in the same world. Carter did reveal, however, that the plan was to feature a much more diverse cast this time around.
“I just spoke to a young man…Ryan Coogler…who is going to remount The X-Files with a diverse cast,” [Carter] said on the On the Coast with Gloria Macarenko podcast. “So he’s got his work cut out for him, because we covered so much territory.”
There hadn’t been any significant updates on the new show since Carter’s tease, leading to doubt that the reboot would actually end up happening, though the Bloomberg report suggests that it’s still very much on track. The doubt was reasonable, as there had previously been efforts made to update The X-Files as an animated series, though that plan fell through. At one point, there were reports of an animated spinoff called The X-Files: Albuquerque, which would’ve followed an animated Mulder and Scully investigating more “wacky” cases. That project was announced in 2020 and seems to have since fizzled out before making it to production.
The X-Files can be found streaming on Hulu as well as the free streaming platform Amazon Freevee.
I’m a huge X-Files fan who was pretty let down by the 2016 and 2018 revival seasons. (I only felt that the 2016 episode, “Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster,” that paid tribute to the late Kim Manners felt like an actual XF ep.) Sometimes, I think it’s best to just let a show go and remember it fondly for all that it was while it was in its glory. However, while I don’t know how I feel about this being a Disney show, I really liked what Coogler did with Black Panther and Creed, so I’m absolutely on board with giving the reboot a shot. I’m torn between who I’d want to see cast in it, though. This may be out of left field, but I really liked what Leah Lewis did as George on the CW’s Nancy Drew. I also love CB’s suggestion of KiKi Layne. And, of course, bonus points if it features Michael B. Jordan in any form, even as a Monster-of-the-Week.
And while Carter thinks Coogler has his work cut out for him, I think the toughest hurdle Coogler will have to get past is from eager fans who have high expectations because Carter left them down so much with seasons 10 and 11. There’s been so much that’s happened IRL since the series’ original run! We had the late Harry Reid’s admission that the government knows about UFOs/UAPs, the testimonies before Congress this past summer, documentaries and other mediums that have highlighted people’s experiences with the phenomenon, UAPs including the mysterious “spy” balloons, and so much more. So I guess what I’m saying, if you’ll indulge me without rolling your eyes too hard, is that I want to believe that Coogler can do the OG X-Files the service it deserves.
Photos credit: AL/Avalon, Cat Morley/Avalon, Jerry Perez/Avalon and via Instagram
Not sure how i feel about a reboot. One of the magical things 20 years ago was conspiracies etc were fun and harmless and now every second post on social media is some cooked theory.
Same, Seaflower, same. In a world full of Q Anon, anti-vaxxers and election truthers doing their best to destroy democracy, I don’t know that I will find “the truth is out there” conspiracy theories so entertaining. Reality has leapfrogged over the most fanciful Smoking Man plot lines the original series could concoct.
Exactly! The show was of its time. Conspiracies are just not fun anymore thanks to the awful awful people pushing them. Yeah I’m pretty cold on this idea.
If they must go ahead I will say the smartest thing they can do is have original characters and not “Mulder” and “Scully”. Distinguish yourselves, even if this is not based on an original idea.
No one can replicate the chemistry between Mulder and Skully. Smoldering hotness!!
No idea if this will work but I love Coogler’s work so I trust him. And gosh, David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson were (and still are) so beautiful and so hot together.
Did a full rewatch before the new seasons. What really struck me was how hard it pushed the government is behind all of this. There was even an episode or two where it was clear a corporation was the baddie, but it was revealed at the end that the government made them do it. The fact that it played all those years on Murdoch’s Fox network made it extra creepy.
Grew up in DC area where everyone’s parents worked for the government. And, yeah, government doesn’t always do the right thing, but inevitably there’s a corporation or rich donors involved when it doesn’t. So pretending this is all a “government “ problem isn’t going to fly.
Hope Coogler can thread the needle on this. Could be truly excellent.
Like the idea of the corporations being the baddie…but that could technically be Disney😂. The reboot being on Disney is what throws me the most.
Any reason for Ryan and Gillian Anderson to work together on good enough for me. She GOTTA come back. Just gotta.
She’s probably only gonna be there in a cameo role, if even that?
I imagine they will cast younger actors as Mulder and Scully, or even replace them with two different FBI agents in the same department.
I have absolutely no interest in seeing anyone other than David Duchovny or Gillian Anderson play Mulder and Scully so the smart thing would be to have the FBI reopen the X-Files with new agents.
It’s either going to suck or it’s going to be so different that only the name remains the same. The X-Files was written back when the FBI kept paper files in a filing cabinet in the basement. It was pre-9/11. It was pre-WikiLeaks. The digital camera had only been available for two years. Smart phones didn’t exist. Google didn’t exist. It was a completely different world. You can’t transplant that zeitgeist into the current times. Stop trying to remake the past and make something original!
Ugh–no. Just no. The original was lightening in a bottle. And even it showed that unless the writers were up to snuff–and not micromanaged to death–it was easy for things to collapse into nonsensical conspiracy mess, bad monsters, and legitimate questions that never got answered. I loved the original, and watching it fall apart because of creator ego and hopeless scripting was frickin’ heartbreaking. And if Coogler has to go through with this–hire some experienced horror/SF writers to do scripts.
The only way something like this works. Is you have to find all the supernatural elements before ever writing a single script. And I don’t mean for just one episode. All the research into everything needs to be done first. You can’t just say we are going to do a show on chupacabras this week and then look into it. You have to know the basis first. Then write it. Because the people who would watch this show already know everything.
Agreed. And what they could also do is plow fresh supernatural turf. Think Lovecraft Country…😈 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lovecraft_Country_(TV_series)
And getting scripts from the authors of White Tears or The Diviners series wouldn’t hurt either…😉
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/apr/28/white-tears-hari-kunzru-review
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Diviners_(Bray_novel)