Ryan Coogler's X-Files reboot gets a full series order from Hulu

It stars Danielle Deadwyler and Himesh Patel as two new FBI agents that aren't named Mulder and Scully.

Hulu has officially picked up Ryan Coogler's X-Files reboot, after greenlighting a pilot back in February. Variety reports that Coogler wrote and directed the pilot, fresh off of Sinners, and will stay on as an executive producer for the rest of the episodes.

We don't know much about the plot here, though Coogler has made comments that suggest this is a sequel series of some kind and not a total reboot. He has called it a "new chapter" and that the team "wanted to honor everything that made the original series connect with so many people while also finding our own way into that world."

Both a reboot and a sequel series have their risks. X-Files was on for 11 seasons in total, with an absolutely nutty mythology that nobody in their right mind would be expected to remember. However, people tend to resent total reboots of properties that are highly beloved and aired in most peoples' living memory.

We do know that the show stars Danielle Deadwyler and Himesh Patel as two FBI agents who are not named Mulder and Scully. Their characters have been described as "two highly decorated but vastly different FBI agents" that "form an unlikely bond when they are assigned to a long-shuttered division devoted to cases involving unexplained phenomena." That certainly sounds like X-Files to me.

Jennifer Yale is the showrunner, and not Coogler. She's written for shows like Legion, See, Dexter and Your Friends & Neighbors, among many others.

This pilot getting picked up for a full series order wasn't a given, despite the name recognition of Coogler and the X-Files IP. Hulu also greenlit a pilot for a Buffy the Vampire Slayer sequel series, which was helmed by Oscar-winning director Chloé Zhao. The platform eventually passed on that one, which is a bummer.