It was recently revealed that The Woman in the Yard star Danielle Deadwyler will be one of the co-leads in Hulu's reboot of The X-Files, and we now know who will join her in the series.
Deadline reveals that Tenet star Himesh Patel has joined the series as co-lead. The trade has also learned that both he and Deadwyler are playing newly created original characters, meaning no, they're not the new Mulder and Scully.
Patel will next be seen in The Odyssey, which reunites him with filmmaker Christopher Nolan. He also has Enola Holmes 3 and Bait on the way, and counts Yesterday, Don't Look Up, and Greedy People among his credits. Patel got his start in British soap EastEnders, which he starred in between 2007 and 2016.
Sinners filmmaker Ryan Coogler is confirmed to write and direct the pilot, which has been officially greenlit. Jennifer Yale will serve as showrunner.
Chris Carter, who was a showrunner on The X-Files when it first launched in 1993, will serve as a non-writing executive producer on Coogler's reboot. Sev Ohanian and Zinzi Coogler, his partners at their Proximity Media banner, are taking on the same role.
In the original version of The X-Files, Agent Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) and Agent Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) were paired up in the FBI's paranormal division, with the former assigned to debunk Mulder's steadfast belief in extraterrestrial threats to Earth.
"There are times when I wish that I could separate and have a day where I'm not anxious about having to deliver the draft," Coogler previously said about his approach to The X-Files, "Vince [Gilligan] gave me a couple hours of advice over Zoom and answered all the questions I had – I've got them all in my notebook, and I go back to it often."
"I've been excited about that for a long time, and I'm fired up to get back to it," he added. "You know, some of those episodes, if we do our jobs right, will be really f***ing scary." Addressing his desire to "make something really great," Coogler noted that he wanted to make "something for the real 'X-Files' fans" that would also "maybe find some new ones."
Carter has said, "They don't need my blessing. 20th Century Fox and Disney own the show. They are free to do with it what they believe. I'm honored that they came to me and asked me not for my permission but my blessing. I'm not supposed to be talking about it, according to Disney. I've had a conversation with [Coogler]. Yes, he likes to go with a diverse cast. And he's got some good ideas."
Stay tuned for updates on The X-Files as we have them.