One of the most iconic television series of the 1990s, The X-Files, is getting another reboot, this time from filmmaker Ryan Coogler. Hulu has officially ordered a pilot, with Sinners director Coogler writing and directing the first episode under his deal with Disney and 20th Television. The project first surfaced in 2023 after the show’s original creator, Chris Carter, revealed that Coogler wanted to “reimagine” the series for a new generation with what he called a more “diverse” focus. That word alone probably tells us where this is going.
As of now, actress Danielle Deadwyler is the only confirmed cast member. She will play one of two FBI agents tasked with reopening a long-dormant division devoted to investigating supernatural activity. No word yet on who’ll play her partner, though fans are already asking whether this reboot will ignore the show’s original stars Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny entirely. Deadline reports that Coogler has spoken to Anderson, but neither she nor Duchovny has signed on.
Coogler’s longtime collaborator, Oscar-nominated casting director Francine Maisler, is overseeing casting, while Jennifer Yale—known for The Copenhagen Test and Your Friends & Neighbors—will serve as showrunner and executive producer. Carter, Coogler, and Proximity Media partners Sev Ohanian and Zinzi Coogler are also executive producers. Production hasn’t started yet, but with Disney’s Onyx Collective behind the project, it’s clear that this is intended to be a prestige revival, not a nostalgia play.
But that’s exactly the problem. Hollywood doesn’t seem to know how to leave well enough alone. Coogler’s reboot follows the same pattern we’ve seen everywhere else—from Star Trek to Doctor Who to Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Every franchise that once offered escapism now serves as a platform for identity politics and social messages. Why should The X-Files be any different? The pitch line could’ve come straight from a studio DEI memo: two agents, “vastly different,” who “form an unlikely bond.” Translation? Representation first, storytelling second.
And the tone of this project tells us plenty. Coogler’s previous hit Sinners broke Oscar records with 16 nominations, but it also leaned heavily into race and guilt as central themes. Now, take that focus and apply it to Mulder and Scully’s world, a place once defined by paranoia, dark government secrets, and the question of whether truth itself could be known. Will The X-Files still dare to question authority, or just preach about power structures?
The original X-Files thrived because it asked uncomfortable questions about what we believe and why we fear the unknown. It was groundbreaking, and it certainly didn’t divide people into groups. It made everyone suspect the institutions around them. That kind of thinking made it a phenomenon. But in 2026, the only “unknown” being investigated in Hollywood seems to be how much social activism an audience will tolerate before tuning out.
The X-Files should remain skeptical of government slogans instead of echoing them, but can a show built on mistrust of official narratives survive in an age when every reboot has to check diversity boxes before it checks for good scripts? The truth might still be out there, but this time around, viewers may find themselves wondering if Hulu’s new version even wants to find it.
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