The Cigarette Smoking Man was right. The X-Files have truly been reopened.
Well, they have been for a while. But March 26 brought yet another big piece of news about the highly-anticipated reimagining of the science fiction/procedural drama The X-Files. Specifically, Himesh Patel will be joining Danielle Deadwyler at the forefront of the reboot's cast.
It remains to be seen what direction the show will take with the two leads, though they will be brand new agents rather than direct reimagining's of the two original agents, Fox Mulder and Dana Scully.
The original series saw Scully (portrayed by Sex Education's Gillian Anderson) join forces with Mulder (played by Californication's David Duchovny) to investigate unknown phenomena through the fictional FBI department known as The X-Files.
Patel will be entering the X-Files reboot off the heels of his performance as John Watson in Enola Holmes 2 and its upcoming threequel. He was also the lead character in the series Station Eleven and cameoed in the Netflix-produced Black Mirror.
Deadwyler's previous credentials include the role of Ramona in the 2025 psychological horror The Woman in the Yard, alongside appearances in series like The Bear and the upcoming third season of Euphoria.
The big-time credentials don't stop there. Director Ryan Coogler - who is best known for writing and directing the Marvel movie Black Panther, its sequel Wakanda Forever, as well as the Oscar-winning horror/musical/drama/gangster feature Sinners - will be overseeing the behind-the-scenes action. He'll write and direct the pilot, which was ordered by Hulu earlier this year, while Jennifer Yale will act as both an executive producer and the showrunner.
Yale's previous work includes producing 13 episodes of the historical romance series Outlander in addition to writing 12 episodes of the crime series Dexter.
Chris Carter, who created the original X-Files series, will join the reboot as an executive producer. Also joining Coogler from the production of Sinners will be casting director Francine Maisler, who will be responsible for putting the cast together for the pilot episode. Maisler's other casting projects include both Amazing Spider-Man movies as well as the baseball drama Moneyball.
While there is no official indication that either Duchovny or Anderson would reprise their roles for the reboot, it seems that the latter had a look at Coogler's script for the pilot. In an interview with Gamesradar, Anderson said that fans should be open to the approach taken by the Black Panther director and that the script "is really good." It's also worth noting that an appearance in the reboot isn't off the table for the Sex Education actress.
The original X-Files series aired on FOX between 1993 and 2002, with a short two-season continuation following in 2016 and 2018. All 11 seasons of the original X-Files series are available to stream on Hulu and Disney+.
As of this writing, no official release timeline has been confirmed for the reboot.