Ryan Coogler’s 'X-Files' Gets Hulu Pilot; Danielle Deadwyler Stars

Ryan Coogler’s reboot of The X-Files has been given an official pilot greenlight at Hulu, and danielle deadwyler has been cast as one of the two co-leads. The development was outlined on February 23, 2026 at 12: 00pm by James Hibberd and Borys Kit, with Coogler confirmed to both write and direct the pilot.

Danielle Deadwyler to co-lead

Danielle Deadwyler has landed one of the two coveted starring roles in the new series and will play one of the highly decorated FBI agents in the project; the other lead has yet to be confirmed. Deadwyler’s credits cited across coverage include The Woman in the Yard, Till, Carry-On and the Netflix adaptation of The Piano Lesson. For The Piano Lesson she earned a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for best supporting actress. On television, Deadwyler has appeared in Station Eleven and is set to appear in the upcoming third season of Euphoria; she is also due to star in HBO’s upcoming comedy series Rooster.

Coogler writing and directing pilot

Ryan Coogler, the filmmaker behind Black Panther and Sinners, is confirmed to write and direct the pilot, and the project has officially been greenlit as a pilot. Coogler has long been attached to relaunching The X-Files and has said of the work that, “I’ve been excited about that for a long time, and I’m fired up to get back to it. Some of those episodes, if we do our jobs right, will be really f*cking scary, ” adding, “We’re gonna try to make something really great and really be something for the real X-Files fans, and maybe find some new ones. ” He has also confirmed that he has spoken with original star Gillian Anderson, saying, “She’s incredible and fingers crossed there, ” and, “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. ”

Creative team and producers

Jennifer Yale, known for The Copenhagen Test, will serve as showrunner and will executive produce. The X-Files’ original creator and showrunner, Chris Carter, will serve as a non-writing executive producer. Sev Ohanian and Zinzi Coogler, partners with Coogler at Proximity Media, are also listed as non-writing executive producers; Simone Harris is a co-executive producer. The pilot is being cast by Sinners casting director Francine Maisler. The X-Files will be produced by Onyx Collective and 20th Television.

Official logline and original series links

The new show’s official description reads: “Two highly decorated but vastly different FBI agents form an unlikely bond when they are assigned to a long-shuttered division devoted to cases involving unexplained phenomena. ” That logline is noted as slightly different from the premise of Fox’s original series, which debuted in 1993, ran for nine seasons and spawned two movies. The original series began when Agent Dana Scully, played by Gillian Anderson, was assigned to the paranormal division to help debunk true believer Agent Fox Mulder, played by David Duchovny. The original run premiered in 1993 and ran for nine seasons; it also produced feature films The X-Files and The X-Files: I Want to Believe, and it was revived in 2016 for two additional seasons. Coverage also notes that the original run’s ratings peaked at roughly 27 million viewers in the U. S. at its height.

Timeline, deals, and political context

Those involved describe the pilot order as the cap to a three-year journey for the project. The effort falls under Coogler’s five-year exclusive television deal with Disney, the parent company of Hulu, 20th Television and Onyx Collective. Coverage links the revival to a wider surge of interest in aliens and UFOs, noting congressional hearings devoted to UAP, recent headlines in which Barack Obama and Donald Trump have weighed in on the topic, and the upcoming Steven Spielberg film Disclosure Day, which is said to have a premise that evokes The X-Files.

Sinners awards and Coogler’s momentum

Coogler arrives on the project hot off Sinners, a film described as last year’s most celebrated surprise hit and an Oscar frontrunner with a record 16 nominations. Sinners made history at the BAFTA Film Awards, becoming the most decorated movie by a Black director and winning three awards, including Best Original Screenplay for Coogler’s script; Coogler was noted as the first Black winner of the BAFTA for best original screenplay. The film stars Michael B. Jordan and has amassed over $365 million globally. Coogler is identified as the founder of Proximity Media, alongside partners Zinzi Coogler and Ohanian. Representation details mentioned include that Jennifer Yale is repped by CAA, Brillstein Entertainment Partners and Hansen Jacobson; Chris Carter is repped by CAA and Gang Tyre; Coogler is repped by WME and M88.

Chris Carter previously discussed Coogler’s attachment and said in a 2023 podcast that Coogler was “going to remount The X Files with a diverse cast, ” adding, “He’s got his work cut out for him because we covered so much territory. ” Coogler’s own podcast comments note that the project took time to come together because he was occupied with Sinners and other projects, including Disney+’s Ironheart.

Casting details continue to be finalized and appearances by original series stars have not been confirmed; the project’s second lead remains to be named.

James Hibberd and Borys Kit contributed the initial timeline detail on February 23, 2026 at 12: 00pm.

Closing: The X-Files pilot under Coogler, with Danielle Deadwyler attached, now moves into casting and production planning under a creative team led by Jennifer Yale and executive producers including Chris Carter, Sev Ohanian and Zinzi Coogler.