Ryan Coogler’s THE X-FILES Reboot Lands Hulu Pilot Order with Danielle Deadwyler Set to Star
The X-Files reboot from Ryan Coogler has officially received a pilot order at Hulu, with Danielle Deadwyler (Watchmen) stepping in as a co-lead. The project hails from Onyx Collective and 20th Television, and now it’s found its showrunner in Jennifer Yale.
After three years of development reports and behind-the-scenes momentum, this new chapter of the iconic sci-fi franchise is finally moving forward.
Coogler, fresh off his historic BAFTA wins for Sinners, is writing and directing the pilot himself. The new take on The X-Files will follow two highly decorated but very different FBI agents, one played by Deadwyler, who are assigned to a long-abandoned division that handled cases involving unexplained phenomena. An unlikely partnership, strange cases, and a government unit collecting dust? Yeah, that feels right.
Yale will executive produce and run the show, joining original series creator Chris Carter, along with Coogler, Sev Ohanian, and Zinzi Coogler under the Proximity Media banner. Simone Harris will serve as co-executive producer. Casting is being handled by Francine Maisler, who previously worked with Coogler on Sinners.
This pilot order marks a major step in Coogler’s five-year exclusive television deal with Disney, which oversees Hulu, 20th Television, and Onyx Collective.
The project first surfaced publicly in 2023 when Carter revealed on a podcast that he had spoken with Coogler, who was “going to remount The X Files with a diverse cast,” adding, “He’s got his work cut out for him because we covered so much territory.”
Coogler later confirmed the reboot himself during a podcast appearance last April. He said, “I’ve been excited about that for a long time, and I’m fired up to get back to it. 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 original X-Files series, which premiered on Fox in 1993, starred Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny as FBI agents Dana Scully and Fox Mulder. The paranormal procedural ran for nine seasons, spawned two feature films, The X-Files (1998) and The X-Files: I Want to Believe (2008), and returned for a two-season revival in 2016.
The show helped define ‘90s sci-fi television and remains one of the most influential genre series ever produced. It’s also one of my all-time favorite TV shows.
Coogler has even spoken with Anderson about the reboot as it slowly took shape. Development took time as the filmmaker balanced a packed slate that included Sinners and Disney+’s Ironheart. But after Sinners became a global success, Coogler turned his focus back to The X-Files.
Hulu has leaned into a pilot-first strategy for high-profile projects in recent years, including its upcoming Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot, which is also producing a pilot episode.
As for Deadwyler, she continues to stack an impressive résumé. She’s set to star in the upcoming HBO comedy series Rooster alongside Steve Carell. She’ll also appear in Season 3 of Euphoria and the dark comedy thriller The Saviors. Most recently, she appeared in The Woman in the Yard, where she also served as an executive producer.
Yale brings genre TV experience to the mix. She recently executive produced and co-showran The Copenhagen Test for Peacock, starring Simu Liu, which unfortunatly was kind of a dud. Her credits also include writing and executive producing on Apple’s See, Netflix’s Chambers, and Apple TV’s Your Friends and Neighbors.
It’s still early days, but it’ll be interesting to see how this turns out. The truth is still out there. Now it’s headed for Hulu.