The X-Files Animated Spinoff Series Reportedly Scrapped

An  animated X-Files spin-off series has been locked away in the FBI's X-Files unit. In 2020, it was reported Fox's Bento Box Entertainment (Bob's Burgers, Koala Man) was developing The X-Files: Albuquerque to be the franchise's first animated series centering on "an office full of misfit agents who investigate X-Files cases too wacky, ridiculous or downright dopey for Mulder and Scully to bother with." Though X-Files series creator and writer Chris Carter was serving as an executive producer, stars David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson were not expected to reprise their roles as FBI Special Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully.

After a lack of developments, TVLine reports The X-Files animated series is not moving forward at Fox. The reported cancellation comes after Carter revealed that Black Panther and Creed director Ryan Coogler will "remount" the '90s series that ran for a total of 11 seasons on Fox, including the two revival seasons that aired in 2016 and 2018.

Rocky Russo and Jeremy Sosenko (Netflix's animated Paradise PD and Comedy Central's Brickleberry) created and developed 20th Television's Albuquerque, with Carter and The X-Files revival producer Gabe Rotter back as executive producers. The animated series would have marked the franchise's return to television after The X-Files season 11 concluded in 2018.

The same year Fox put The X-Files: Albuquerque into development, Carter said on the X-Files-centric The Conspiracy Podcast that he "always thought there would be even more X-Files," even without series leads Duchovny and Anderson. 

"Being that Gillian has decided to move on with her career, we certainly couldn't do Mulder and Scully again. But that's not to say there isn't another way to do the X-Files," Carter said, referring to the animated comedy, adding "the future is unwritten" under rights owners Disney.

In the '90s, Duchovny and Anderson guest-starred as animated versions of their X-Files characters in the Fox Kids series Eek! The Cat and The Simpsons season 8 episode "The Springfield Files" — which may be as close as fans get to seeing The X-Files in animation.