We’ll take this one with a grain of salt for now, but as it’s X-Files related, I can’t help myself. According to Nexus Point News, Danielle Deadwyler is in talks to star in Ryan Coogler’s X-Files reboot. The report states that Deadwyler would play one of the two lead investigators.
Deadwyler’s recent feature film projects include The Harder They Fall, I Saw the TV Glow, Carry-On, and The Woman in the Yard. She also won critical acclaim for her performance in Till as Mamie Till-Mobley, the mother of Emmett Till. She’s also made appearances in Watchmen, Station Eleven, and The Bear.
Again, none of this is official, but as Coogler said he would dive right into the X-Files reboot after the release of Sinners, it’s reasonable that some casting would now be underway. “I’m working on X-Files,” Coogler told Last Podcast on the Left earlier this year. “That’s what’s immediately next… I’ve been excited about that one for a long time and I’m fired up to get back to it, and that, you know, some of those episodes, if we do our jobs right, will be really f***ing scary.“
Coogler has also teased that he’s spoken with Gillian Anderson, who starred in the original series as Agent Dana Scully. “She’s incredible, and fingers-crossed there,” he said. “When I spoke to her, she was finishing [Tron: Ares] up. But, yeah, but we’re gonna try to make something really great… and really be something for the real X-Files fans, you know what I’m saying? And, maybe, find some new ones.“
Anderson has been back and forth on whether she would reprise the role, at times saying she’d be game to suit up again for Coogler, and at others, insisting that she’s said all there is to say about Scully. After nine seasons of the original show, two movies, and two revival seasons, I can’t say I blame her.
As a lifelong fan of The X-Files, I’m eager to see what Coogler brings to the table. Still, I can’t decide which approach I’d prefer — a total reboot, or a legacy series that pays homage to what came before. Letting a new duo of agents take over the X-Files office could be a great way to bridge old and new, but it would also guarantee endless debates over how faithfully it sticks to the original mythology (which, to be fair, was never exactly consistent to begin with). Either way, the series will have to walk a fine line between reverence and reinvention.
Which would you prefer? A complete reboot of The X-Files or a legacy series? Also, would you be down to see Danielle Deadwyler as one of the stars of the new X-Files?
