While ’90s sci-fi fans might have been holding out hope for the return of two of their favorite small-screen stars, it’s officially the end of an era for one of the genre’s most influential TV shows. It is tough to say how influential any given TV show is, but pop culture obsessives can at least try to chart the number of later shows that were partially inspired by any given hit.
For example, the best quote from The Simpsons reveals how the series inspired South Park, Family Guy, American Dad, and BoJack Horseman with its deconstruction of schmaltzy, saccharine sitcom moralizing. Of course, The Simpsons also started the adult animation boom as a whole, so the show can also be held at least partially responsible for the existence of Beavis and Butt-Head, Bob’s Burgers, King of the Hill, Rick and Morty, and Big Mouth, among many, many others.
Similarly, the popularity of The X-Files can be illustrated with a quick look at the sheer number of shows that borrowed its basic “police procedural with a supernatural/paranormal twist” in the decades that followed its debut. On a very basic level, Grimm, Evil, Lucifer, Supernatural, Fringe, Angel, and the classic ’90s hit Buffy the Vampire Slayer all owe their central premise of a supernatural private investigator to The X-Files, even if all these cult classics then went on to riff on the concept in unique ways.
The X-Files Reboot Shouldn’t Try To Recreate Mulder & Scully’s Original Dynamic
The original run of The X-Files spent nine seasons and 202 episodes chronicling Mulder and Scully’s search for the truth as the mismatched FBI agents investigated alien abductions, hauntings, shapeshifting serial killers, and all manner of other paranormal phenomena. However, the original show’s series finale was far from the end of the franchise’s run.
At the height of the show’s popularity, The X-Files released its first theatrical spinoff movie, 1998’s The X-Files: Fight the Future. Ten years later, the standalone sequel The X-Files: I Want to Believe brought Mulder and Scully together for another adventure before 2016’s two-season revival of The X-Files saw the duo once again investigating creepy goings-on across America.
This 2010s revival was divisive among critics, the show’s sizable fan base, and even the cast of the series, with Scully’s actor Gillian Anderson later admitting that she didn’t like how her character’s arc wrapped up. This might be part of the reason that original series stars David Duchovny and Anderson are officially not returning to their central roles in Sinners director Ryan Coogler’s upcoming reboot of The X-Files, which recently began filming its pilot.
Since sci-fi TV shows and franchise reboots are currently dominating the streaming charts, the timing could not be better for a re-imagining of the iconic franchise. Thus, 33 years after the show began in 1993, its original stars have finally been replaced as the lead actors with the filming of the reboot’s pilot. Written and directed by Coogler, this pilot will star Himesh Patel and Danielle Deadwyler as a pair of FBI agents, with stars like Amy Madigan, Ben Foster, Lochlyn Munro, and Steve Buscemi set to guest star.
The nine-year age gap between Patel and Deadwyler is promising news, as this hopefully means Coogler’s reboot of The X-Files won’t simply recreate the existing character dynamic between Mulder and Scully with its new pair of paranormal investigators. Duchovny and Anderson had historically great chemistry, but the Earnest Male True Believer/Deadpan Female Skeptic duo has been overdone in the years since the original show wrapped up.
It is time for the iconic franchise to offer viewers something truly fresh and new in terms of characterization, so these new lead actors should bring with them a new character dynamic between the show’s heroes. After all, The X-Files was an entirely fresh and original show when the series originally began, even though its outsized influence on TV sometimes obscures this.