After years of anticipation, we finally have a concrete update on Ryan Coogler’s planned reboot of The X-Files. Deadline reports that the project will land at Hulu as a part of Coogler’s five year TV deal with Disney, and that the show’s been greenlit for a pilot with Jennifer Yale serving as showrunner.
Coogler is set to write and direct the pilot, which will star The Woman in the Yard alum Danielle Deadwyler. Per Deadline, the pilot’s synopsis reads, “two highly decorated but vastly different FBI agents — one played by Deadwyler — form an unlikely bond when they are assigned to a long-shuttered division devoted to cases involving unexplained phenomena.” Essentially the logline for the original series, but with some Coogler spice added to it, yeah?
The new reboot will be produced by showrunner Yale alongside Sev Ohanian, Zinzi Coogler, and original X-Files creator Christ Carter, with Sinners casting director Francine Maisler once again teaming up with Coogler. No other casting for the pilot has been announced, but Coogler did reveal in an interview with The Last Podcast on the Left that he’s spoken to original star Gillian Anderson.
“I’ve been excited about that for a long time, and I’m fired up to get back to it.” he said in that interview. Some of those episodes, if we do our jobs right, will be really f*cking scary…We’re gonna try to make something really great and really be something for the real X-Files fans, and maybe find some new ones.”
The greenlight for the pilot comes on the heels of Coogler’s latest project, Sinners, earning a record number of Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Actor for Michael B. Jordan. The film also recently nabbed three BAFTA awards from thirteen nominations, for Best Original Score, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Wunmi Mosaku.
No release date has been announced for the X-Files reboot. Stay tuned to FANGORIA for more updates.
