It’s been over five years since The X-Files aired its eleventh and final season, and if you’re one of those fans who have been hoping to see new X-Files content since then, we’ve got some good news for you!
Is X-Files coming back?
Nothing is official yet, but an X-Files reboot is reportedly in the works.
In celebration of the 30th anniversary of The X-Files, series creator Chris Carter recently appeared on the podcast On the Coast with Gloria Macarenko, in which he was asked how the beloved sci-fi series would be different if it were made in the present.
“We’re so steeped in conspiracies now,” Carter said. “The X-Files dealt with a central conspiracy, but now the world is so full of conspiracies that I think it would be a different show.”
Carter then dropped a major bombshell when he casually revealed that Black Panther’s Ryan Coogler is developing a reboot of The X-Files.
“Actually, I just spoke to a young man, Ryan Coogler, who is going to remount The X-Files with a diverse cast. So he’s got his work cut out for him because we covered so much territory.”
Reps for Coogler and 20th Television, the studio behind the original series, have yet to confirm or deny the news.
Who is Ryan Coogler?
Coogler is best known for directing and co-writing 2018’s Black Panther and its 2022 sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
This isn’t the first time Coogler is putting his own stamp on a famous property. He directed and co-wrote the 2015 movie Creed, which is the first spinoff and the seventh installment in the Rocky film series. Although he didn’t direct or wrote the sequels Creed II and Creed III, he served as a producer for both movies.
According to Variety, Coogler is developing The X-Files reboot under his five-year overall deal with Walt Disney Television, of which 20th Television is a part. Under that deal, Coogler is also developing a series set in Wakanda for Disney+. He’s also an executive producer of the upcoming Marvel series Ironheart, whose lead character, RiRi Williams (Dominique Thorne), made her onscreen debut in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Outside of Disney, in addition to his works on the Creed franchise, Coogler also wrote and directed the 2013 critically-acclaimed feature Fruitvale Station. He was also one of the producers of the 2021 movies Judas and the Black Messiah and Space Jam: A New Legacy.
Will David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson appear in The X-Files reboot?
It’s not clear whether original The X-Files stars David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson will be reprising their roles as Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, respectively, in the reboot. But since a lot of TV reboots nowadays are set in the same universe as their predecessors, but with all-new casts, it’s unlikely that Duchovny and Anderson will make an appearance in Coogler’s The X-Files project. Fans, however, can expect Mulder and Scully’s names to be mentioned at some point in the reboot.
Where will The X-Files reboot air?
The project is still in its very early stage of development, so there’s no word yet on where fans can watch the series. But Variety pointed out that it would more likely air on Hulu rather than Fox, which is the original network home of the franchise. That’s because Fox and 20th Television is no longer part of the same company after Disney acquired 21st Century Fox back in 2019. In fact, upcoming revivals of Fox shows Futurama and King of the Hill are set to stream on Hulu.
Will there be a 12th season of The X-Files?
It’s unlikely that there will ever be a season 12 of the original The X-Files, especially after Anderson expressed disappointment in some of the show’s narrative choices during its final seasons.
“It just feels like such an old idea,” the actress said in an interview with Variety in 2021, addressing a potential Scully return. “I’ve done it, I did it for so many years, and it also ended on such an unfortunate note. In order to even begin to have that conversation [about another season] there would need to be a whole new set of writers and the baton would need to be handed on for it to feel like it was new and progressive. So yeah, it’s very much in the past.”
Duchovny, meanwhile, told ComicBook.com that he couldn’t imagine doing The X-Files without Anderson.
“For me, it was always there’s no show unless it’s Chris and Gillian,” he said in 2022 when asked if he would take part in a version of The X-Files that didn’t feature Scully. “Again, I don’t want to have to think about that, because it’s not something that I necessarily need in my life, to go do that. I think at this point, I mean, there might be another iteration of the actual show without either of us. I’m not sure. Or there could be a cartoon. There are many ways to go about it. But personally, for me, the X-Files that I’m involved in consists of Chris Carter, myself, and Gillian, so I haven’t spent time trying to think about a different version of that, and I don’t know that I will.”
Speaking of cartoons, Fox announced an animated comedy spinoff called The X-Files: Albuquerque back in 2020. The project was supposed to focus on a B-team of agents working in New Mexico — but it never got off the ground and is no longer active, according to The Hollywood Reporter.