Hollywood doesn’t have many “guarantees,” but there is one certainty that will always prevail: every successful franchise will be rebooted, revived, or remade at some point. Most recently, that includes the new Road House starring Jake Gyllenhaal, yet if we’re being more optimistic and longevity minded, then Cobra Kai remains the contemporary template for harnessing both nostalgia and appeal for new generations, and for a reimagining, Donald Glover’s Mr. and Mrs. Smith can provide inspiration. Can Black Panther writer and director Ryan Coogler hope to hit these latter two high bars with his planned reboot of The X-Files and also avoid the unimpressed reactions already being directed towards the upcoming reboot of The Crow?
The truth is out there somewhere. Fox Mulder would want us to believe, after all. Let’s get down to extraterrestrial business on what we know so far.
Plot
The X-Files reigned as a 1990s sci-fi monarch and ran for eleven seasons (including a two-season continuation beginning in 2016) and multiple movies. The series honed the Unresolved Sexual Tension for as long as it could hold out, and the FOX audience tuned in weekly for Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully’s (Gillian Anderson) believer-skeptic/special-agent dynamic.
How would a reboot go, and where will it land?
Coogler currently has a five-year deal with Walt Disney Television, so this series will remain in the original family. However, Variety reports that this show will probably land on Hulu, given the Disney acquisition of 21st Century Fox, which produced and propelled the original series to its FOX home. Additionally, series original creator Chris Carter has given his blessing to the project: “I just spoke to a young man, Ryan Coogler, who is going to remount ‘The X-Files’ with a diverse cast. So he’s got his work cut out for him, because we covered so much territory.”
While speaking to Inverse, Carter mentioned that the reboot will be especially difficult because, these days, “Everything’s a conspiracy… No one knows what the truth is. It’s completely subjective and relative now.” However, Carter sounds confident in Coogler’s vision:
“I just asked him what his ideas were, and he told me, and I said, ‘Those sound like good ideas,’” Carter said. “No matter what, he’s got a hard job. Casting is a hard job. Mounting it is a hard job. All the problems that I dealt with are going to be his problems.”
Cast
Officially, this category remains a mystery. A promising tidbit has arrived, however, from Gillian Anderson, who has always been resistant to the idea of joining a reboot until she heard about Coogler’s involvement. This month, Anderson told TODAY that she finds Coogler to be a “brilliant, brilliant director,” and “I cannot think of a better way around for a reboot to happen. I think he’s a bit of a genius.” She added that for Coogler, “I’m not saying no — because I think [he] is really cool, and I think if he did it, it would probably be done incredibly well, and maybe I’ll pop in for a little somethin-somethin.”
There’s also no telling whether frequent Coogler collaborator Michael B. Jordan will be involved in any way following their Fruitvale Station, Black Panther, and Creed eras. But admit it, Coogler devotees would not be mad if this development happened.
Release Date
Since these are early days for the project, the soonest we will see a potential release is 2025.
Trailer
A trailer? No way. The best we can hope for at this stage is that Coogler will write in a reference to the death of a character, who is maybe Fox Mulder, from autoerotic asphyxiation — just like Clyde Bruckman prophesied.
Source: https://uproxx.com/tv/x-files-reboot-season-1-ryan-coogler-gillian-anderson-release-info/
