Hulu Orders Ryan Coogler's X-Files Reboot to Series With Danielle Deadwyler and Himesh Patel
Two new FBI agents, not Mulder and Scully, will staff a shuttered unit for unexplained cases, with Chris Carter on board as a producer and a cast that includes Steve Buscemi.
Wednesday, October 14, 2026/2 min read
The X-Files is coming back to Hulu, but not with the faces that made it famous. The streamer has given a series order to Ryan Coogler's reimagining of the show, with Danielle Deadwyler and Himesh Patel as the leads, TVLine reported this week.
The leads are not Mulder and Scully. The logline describes two highly decorated but very different FBI agents who form an unlikely partnership when they are assigned to a long-shuttered division that handles cases involving unexplained phenomena.
Who is making the new X-Files?
Coogler, the director of Sinners, wrote and directed the pilot and is an executive producer on the series. Jennifer Yale is the showrunner and an executive producer. Deadwyler and Patel are co-executive producers as well as stars. Coogler said he has loved the show for a long time and that writing and directing the pilot has meant a great deal to him.
Dread Central, citing Deadline, adds that the original creator Chris Carter is a non-writing executive producer, alongside Sev Ohanian and Zinzi Coogler of Coogler's Proximity Media. Earlier coverage described the project as a pilot order, so the step to a full series is the news.
Who else is in the cast?
The supporting cast is deep: Amy Madigan, Steve Buscemi, Ben Foster, Devery Jacobs, Lochlyn Munro, Tantoo Cardinal, Joel D. Montgrand and Sofia Grace Clifton. TheWrap, which reported the earlier pilot order, describes the project as the latest greenlight from Onyx Collective and says Carter has given it his blessing. He will not be involved in the writing and will act as its cheerleader, in the outlet's phrase. TheWrap also notes that Anderson had said she was done with the role before saying she would be open to returning if she could work with Coogler.
No premiere date or episode count appeared in the reports.
Coogler's involvement is the draw. TheWrap notes that he made Sinners, and he wrote and directed the pilot himself, so the series order rests on a finished episode and not only a script.
Will Gillian Anderson or David Duchovny return?
Dread Central notes unconfirmed rumours that the original stars might return in some form. Anderson has said in the past that she was done with Scully, then said in a 2024 interview that she was not ruling out a return. That is as far as anything has been confirmed. Neither actor is listed among the announced cast.
The original series ran for nine seasons on Fox from the 1990s into the early 2000s, produced two feature films and came back for two more seasons on Hulu from 2016 to 2018. The new version has to persuade viewers that its premise, the pull between belief and evidence, works without the original pair. The first sign of Hulu's confidence will be a release date, and none has been given.
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