Sci-Fi Bulletin: Exploring the Universes of SF, Fantasy, Horror and Spy-fi!

Alasdair Stuart peeks inside the new series of The X-Files…

Ryan Coogler’s X-Files update has got its leading man and he’s GREAT.

Himesh Patel will join Danielle Deadwyler in the pilot, which has the following logline: “Two highly decorated but vastly different FBI agents (Deadwyler, Patel) form an unlikely bond when they are assigned to a long-shuttered division devoted to cases involving unexplained phenomena.”

That tells us a surprising amount about the series.

We know the X-Files were shuttered, presumably not long after the events of Season 11 back in 2018.

That tells us that this is a continuation, not a remake. ‘Sequel’ feels like a pejorative but this feels like the next chapter of what’s come before. There’s an inherent respect to that, which should mollify some fans. Hopefully enough to slow the monetised shrill outrage machine before it reaches the level that helped kill Starfleet Academy far before its time.

Two highly decorated but very different agents being ‘assigned’? That speaks volumes to how differently they’re being taken. The original series opens with Mulder as a gifted profiler burning every ounce of his reputation to be given the X-Files and Scully being assigned to find a reason to fire him. If these two agents are here because someone asked them to be? That’s massive and implies a change in the respectability of the department that will change the tone of the series in some fascinating ways.

It also heavily implies that either Scully (Gillian Anderson has said she’d be open to returning) is back in the Bureau and now senior or Skinner or a compatriot has enough power to give the X-Files Division some breathing room.

All of that’s fun, but where the show is actively exciting is in the cast. Deadwyler has an incredible genre background, including under-rated alt-present action movie 40 Acres, the flawed but sincerely fascinating The Woman in the Yard and excellent neo-western The Harder They Fall.

She was also part of the superb, and worryingly resonant Station Eleven, about the survivors of a flu pandemic that destroys civilization. Written by Emily St. John Mandel and adapted for TV by Patrick Somerville it’s a great miniseries that also includes massive talents like Lori Petty, Mackenzie Davis, Gael Garcia Bernal and her newly confirmed X-Files co-star Himesh Patel.

Patel’s background impresses too. He broke through as the lead in the flawed but gloriously weird Yesterday and had pivotal supporting roles in The Aeronauts, Tenet and Don’t Look Up before a great, nervy turn in The Assessment. He’s also our newest John Watson, cameoing in Enola Holmes 2 with appearances in Enola Holmes 3 and The Odyssey next,

These are two of the best actors working today, working for one of the most gifted directors and writers working today, who has loved this series since childhood. There could not be safer pairs of hands for The X-Files to be in and I’m really excited to see them find out just what Truth is out there in 2026.

The X-Files pilot episode is in production right around now. All 11 seasons of the original and both movies are available on disc and streaming.