Hulu Orders ‘X-Files’ Reboot Pilot

Looks like it’s time to dig into the unexplained once again.

Deadline reports that Hulu has ordered a pilot for a reboot of The X-Files from Black Panther and Sinners filmmaker Ryan Coogler.

From Onyx Collective and 20^th Television, the series will co-star The Piano Lesson’s Danielle Deadwyler, with Jennier Yale serving as showrunner. Coogler will write and direct the pilot for the robot, which follows “two highly decorated but vastly different FBI agents” who form “an unlikely bond when they are assigned to a long-shuttered division devoted to cases involving unexplained phenomena.”

While details surrounding the characters have not been shared, Deadwyler will portray one of the FBI agents. Her on-screen partner has not yet been cast. Yale is serving as executive producer alongside original The X-Files creator Chris Carter, as well as Coogler, Sev Ohanian, and Zinzi Coogler for Proximity Media. Simone Harris of Proximity is co-executive producing. Sinners casting director Francine Maisler is casting the pilot.

Deadwyler can be seen in Carry-On, 40 Acres, The Piano Lesson, Parallel, From Scratch, Till, Station Eleven, The Harder They Fall, P-Valley, Paradise Lost, It’s Time, The Have and the Have Nots, and The Devil to Pay, among others. Upcoming, she will be appearing in the long-awaited third season of Euphoria, premiering on HBO and HBO Max on April 12.

Coogler has been eyeing an X-Files reboot for a while. In March 2023, Carter confirmed on CBC’s On the Coast with Gloria Macarenko that the award-winning filmmaker was working on a new series “with a diverse cast.” In April, Coogler revealed he had talked with original star Gillian Anderson, expressing his hope for Dana Scully’s return, while David Duchovny previously said he has “nothing” to share about the new show.

Coogler gave an update on the reboot on Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast in December, saying, “We intend on having both monsters of the week and also the overarching conspiracy.” While he couldn’t reveal whether Scully and Mulder will be returning, he said he was a big fan of both Anderson and Duchovny. “That’s all I can say,” he said.

Anderson and Duchovny starred on all 11 seasons of The X-Files as medical doctor Dana Scully and FBI profiler Fox Mulder, respectively. The series initially ran for nine seasons from 1993 to 2002 on Fox and was revived for a six-episode 10^th season in 2016. Following ratings success, the show made another comeback in 2018 for a 10-episode Season 11. Two feature films have also released: 1998’s The X-Files and 2008’s stand-alone film The X-Files: I Want to Believe. Robert Patrick, Annabeth Gish, and Mitch Pileggi also starred throughout the show’s run.