An ‘X-Files’ Remake Is in the Works—Will It Be Able To Capture the Unsettling Magic of the Original?

It is an indisputable fact that we live in an age of remakes, reboots, legacy sequels, spinoffs, and cinematic universes. Though there is still a plethora of original TV and movies being made, nostalgia dominates the headlines. The latest ’90s TV production set to be given the reboot treatment is none other than The X-Files.

This news might come as a surprise, given The X-Files has already had a relatively recent reboot. Gillian Andersen and David Duchovny reprised their roles as Dana Scully and Fox Mulder in 2016 and 2018 for two seasons. Though that reboot ended on a horrifyingly sour note, this new one could be something else entirely.

Developing the new remake is producer, writer, and director Ryan Coogler. According to Deadline, this new version of The X-Files will be more diverse, with a set of fresh new characters and stories. This has the potential to be an exciting prospect—The X-Files often explored stories, conspiracies, and myths from a vast array of cultures, and telling those stories with a cast of diverse characters could breathe new life into an old formula. Additionally, Coogler is an undeniably talented storyteller—his work on the Creed movies and Marvel’s Black Panther speaks for itself.

Will Andersen and Duchovny return for this latest iteration of the show? It’s unlikely. In an interview with ComicBook.com, Duchnovy said that he’d be reluctant to return to The X-Files without Andersen and original series creator Chris Carter. Andersen, meanwhile, stated in an interview with Variety that she feels as though she’s done with that chapter of her life as the original premise now feels like an “old idea.” She’d only consider returning if there was a whole new set of writers and the show could do something “new and progressive.” Perhaps Coogler’s reboot is just what the concept needs—exactly as Andersen said.

The question is, if this new project does move forward in production, how will it fare? Chris Carter commented on the prospect of a reboot when speaking to the CBC podcast On the Coast with Gloria Macarenko: “‘He’s [Ryan Coogler] got his work cut out for him because we covered so much territory,’ he continued, ‘We’re so steeped in conspiracies now. The X-Files dealt with a central conspiracy, but now the world is so full of conspiracies that I think that it would be a different show.’”

He’s got a point. Any new X-Files show will have to deal with society’s current division. Social media is ablaze daily with new conspiracy theories, half-truths, outright lies, as well as simple misunderstandings. The truth is becoming harder and harder to come by with the advent of AI technology—images, videos, speeches, narratives, and songs we find on Google, X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, and Instagram might all be computer generated.

This latest X-Files remake certainly has potential. It could genuinely be something special, just as the original series was. But there’s a very good chance that the show itself, aside from its most basic episodic structure and title, will be entirely unrecognizable. It will be an X-Files for the modern age. If we want to lose ourselves in the mystery of the early ’90s, we’ll just have to return to the original.

(featured image: 20th Century Television)