Ryan Coogler, director of the forthcoming X Files reboot, has confirmed he has spoken to Gillian Anderson, the show’s original lead.
The 38-year-old Black Panther director has just celebrated the release of his new horror film, Sinners, starring Michael B Jordan. Coogler said he was looking forward to turning his attention back to the series, which is “immediately next” on his slate.
“I’ve been excited about that for a long time and I’m fired up to get back to it,” he said on the Last Podcast on the Left. “Some of those episodes, if we do our jobs right, will be really f***ing scary.”
The original show ran for nine seasons between 1993 and 2002 (and two revived seasons in 2016), and followed FBI agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) as they investigate paranormal phenomena.
Coogler confirmed he had spoken with Anderson about the show as she was finishing off work on the forthcoming science-fiction movie,Tron: Ares.
“She’s incredible and fingers crossed there,” he said. “We’re going to try to make something really great, bro, and make something for the real X-Files fans and maybe find some new ones.”
News of the reboot was confirmed in 2023, although the show’s creator, Chris Carter, had suggested at the time that Duchovny and Anderson would not return.
Last year, Carter revealed that the show’s producers had originally been hesitant to recruit Anderson, as she did not fit their idea of “sexy”. She subsequently went on to become a firm fan favourite.
Carter was asked “Where is the sex appeal?” about The Crown actor.
“Even though Gillian’s beautiful, she wasn’t their idea of sexy,” he explained. “First, because they didn’t understand what I was trying to do with the show. And she was an unknown, so that never helps.”
Anderson was eventually cast as Agent Scully and the show’s success ignited her acting career, which has seen her land roles in Netflix’s The Crown, Sex Education, and the BBC drama series The Fall.
She previously opened up about the network disagreeing with her casting.
“All these other actresses from the theatre community in New York were being flown in because I wasn’t good enough for The X Files,” she said on the NPR podcast Fresh Air. “So I was auditioning suddenly with Jill Hennessy and Cynthia Nixon. Anyway, eventually I ended up getting the job.”
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