Chris Carter created The X-Files in 1993 and ran it for nine seasons, two feature films, and a divisive 2016 revival. Now, with Ryan Coogler’s reboot in production and a director’s cut of The X-Files: I Want to Believe hitting Disney Plus and Hulu, Carter is talking. And what he’s saying should make Fox executives nervous about which version of this franchise fans actually want.
Coogler’s reboot, which finished filming its pilot this summer, hands the lead roles to Danielle Deadwyler and Himesh Patel as new FBI agents investigating the paranormal. Not Mulder. Not Scully. A franchise built for three decades around one specific pair of investigators is being reintroduced with two entirely different leads, a now-familiar move in an industry that keeps replacing established characters rather than building new ones from scratch.
Carter, still credited as executive producer, told Polygon he expects the original stars to show up anyway. “At least Gillian, I think, is going to appear in the Coogler version,” he said, adding that he assumes David Duchovny will too. That’s a notable admission. If the new leads need the old leads to hand off legitimacy to the audience, the show isn’t standing on its own.
Carter has kept his distance from the production itself. He has said he won’t read the scripts and wants to experience the series as a viewer rather than a collaborator. “I’m waiting for his series to come out,” he said, before deciding what comes next for the franchise under his own control.
The media buried the lede when reporting on the reboot and interviewing the X-Files creator. Carter has unfinished business with The X-Files, and he’s not shy about saying so, saying, "I do have another X-Files story to tell." He has described wanting to tell another story in the mythology, whether as a series or another feature film. The Season 11 finale left major threads dangling, including a reveal about Scully’s storyline that split the fanbase. Carter has defended that ending publicly, arguing that giving fans exactly what they expect isn’t the job of X-Files storytelling, "But is that the job of X-Files storytellers? No.” He also added, "You just have to make them appreciate what they objected to."
Carter has also said he doesn’t know yet whether his plans and Coogler’s reboot will end up complementary or in direct competition. That’s a diplomatic way of saying two different visions for the same franchise are currently in motion, one led by the man who created Mulder and Scully, and one led by a director who cast around them.
The director’s cut of I Want to Believe, retitled Vrach Frankenshteyn, restores material Fox cut from the 2008 theatrical release, including horror elements Carter originally intended and story beats involving Mulder’s sister Samantha and Scully’s son William that were stripped out. It’s a small but telling data point: Carter is actively reclaiming his original vision for this franchise on a project decades old, while a new set of decision-makers reshapes its future without him in the room.
Coogler has reportedly consulted X-Files alumni, including former staff writer Vince Gilligan, and handed showrunning duties to Jennifer Yale now that his own directing work on the pilot is done. That’s a lot of hands on a franchise whose creator is publicly saying he still has a story to tell and isn’t sure the new version will leave room for it.
If Carter moves forward with his own X-Files project while Coogler’s reboot is airing, Fox will have two competing claims on the same IP, one from the creator, one from the studio’s chosen successor. That’s not a hypothetical. Carter has said it himself. The only question left is which version audiences decide is the real X-Files.
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I wouldn't have minded back in 2002, if Robert Patrick and Annebeth Gish would follow-up Mulder & Scully in season 10. But now to be honest, I am not so sure if I want to see either of them.
My problem is not the soft reboot itself, but that I have very mixed feelings about Coogler. "Creed" was a great film, but "Sinners" was meh, and the Wakanda films were kinda stupid, especially the second one. As for the alleged competition, I don't see it yet. If it ever comes to season 12 or a final movie about the remaining threads in the Mulder/Scully arc, Carter is intelligent enough to weave them around Coogler's expansion… and Coogler himself at least seems reverent enough not to mess with what Carter has set up in season 10 & 11.