The “Sinners” filmmaker is set to write and direct the pilot episode.

Ryan Coogler’s X-Files reboot gets pilot order at Hulu, with Danielle Deadwyler to star

The "Sinners" filmmaker is set to write and direct the pilot episode.

By Mekishana Pierre

Mekishana Pierre

Mekishana Pierre is a news writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2025. Her work has previously appeared on *Entertainment Tonight* and Popsugar.

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February 23, 2026 5:50 p.m. ET

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Ryan Coogler and Danielle Deadwyler. Credit:

Gareth Cattermole/BAFTA/Getty; Amanda Edwards/Getty

The truth is officially out there. Ryan Coogler's planned reboot of *The X-Files* has been ordered to pilot at Hulu — and made its first major casting.

Actress Danielle Deadwyler — best known for her critically acclaimed roles in the Western film *The Harder They Fall*, the biographical drama *Till*, and the August Wilson adaptation *The Piano Lesson* — has nabbed the coveted role as one half of the series-leading duo, with her costar yet to be announced. TV writer Jennifer Yale (*The Copenhagen Test*) has been named as showrunner.

Coogler will be wearing multiple hats for the new *X-Files*, serving as an executive producer while also writing and directing the pilot.

Danielle Deadwyler at the 2025 Met Gala.

Michael Buckner/Penske Media via Getty

Chris Carter, the creator and showrunner of the original *X-Files*, will serve as a non-writing executive producer on the reboot alongside Sev Ohanian and Zinzi Coogler, who are Coogler's partners at their Proximity Media banner; the project also hails from Onyx Collective and 20th Television.

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The new show's official description is slightly different from the premise of its predecessor. Coogler's take will follow two highly decorated but vastly different FBI agents as they form an unlikely bond after they're assigned to a "long-shuttered division devoted to cases involving unexplained phenomena."

Fans will recall that the OG series — which debuted in 1993, ran for nine seasons, and spawned two movies — featured Gillian Anderson's Agent Dana Scully being assigned to the paranormal division to help debunk true believer Agent Fox Mulder's (David Duchovny) work.

David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson on 'The X-Files'.

Chris H.B./Fox/Courtesy Everett

Coogler's reboot has been a long-gestating project for the award-winning filmmaker. He was reported to be developing an *X-Files* series back in 2023, when Carter revealed that a reboot from the director was in its early stages.

Last April, the *Sinners* filmmaker teased his vision during an appearance on *The Last Podcast on the Left*. "I've been excited about that for a long time, and I'm fired up to get back to it. Some of those episodes, if we do our jobs right, will be really f‑‑‑ ing scary," he said. "We're gonna try to make something really great, bro, and really be something for the real *X-Files* fans, and maybe find some new ones."

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Of course, with any reboot or remake of such an iconic IP, many have wondered whether the new version would reunite the OG duo as it introduces fans to a new pair of comrades.

Anderson has been vocal about feeling optimistic about the return of the paranormal drama, as well as being open to the idea of being involved in the project herself. "I spoke to [Coogler], and what I said was, 'If anyone were to do it, I think you are the perfect person, and best of luck," the *Sex Education *alum said during an appearance on ITV1's *This Morning* in May. "At some point, if the phone rings and it's good and it feels like the right time, perhaps."

Ryan Coogler at the 2026 AAFCA Awards.

Kayla Oaddams/WireImage

She also told the filmmaker, "Call me."

On the other hand, Duchovny has only addressed the reboot briefly, telling Screen Rant in 2024, "I don't really have any thoughts on it… I wish them luck."**

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