The X-Files Revival Gets the Upgrade Fans Needed to Hear (But It Raises a Major Question About Season 12)

For over thirty years now, The X-Files has been the little engine that could. The series began in a place where it was almost destined to fail, set to premiere on Friday nights in the 1990s. Despite this, The X-Files surged in popularity and became one of the most defining shows of the decade alongside another FOX program, The Simpsons. Even as other problems with the series came about, the potential shift to feature films, and the cast being eager to leave the show entirely, the series never ended. Even after wrapping up nine seasons, The X-Files was still a fan favorite and returned to TV over 14 years later.

Now off the air for seven years, The X-Files is primed for a major return once again. Black Panther and Creed director Ryan Coogler has been tapped to revive the series, with development on the new season in the works for the past two years. There’s been a handful of updates about the new episodes over these past two years, but now Coogler has confirmed two major elements of the series will fully be utilized in the new episodes: mythology and monster of the week. While great to have confirmed, though, it raises big questions for fans of the show.

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Speaking on the latest episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Coogler reiterated his love for The X-Files, noting that it was a series that allowed him to bond with his mother even more. He also noted that there’s a specific reason why the show appeals to him as a creator, calling it “one of the most beautiful American television shows ever made.”

“Chris Carter will tell you, he was trying to make Kolchak: The Night Stalker. For me, that’s what it’s all about, when you, as an artist, when you’re trying to capture something that you were influenced by, and you make something totally new. Anytime you watch a TV show, a movie where there’s a skeptic paired with a believer, and they’re trying to solve a case, something like True Detective Season 1, for instance. It comes up so many times.”

When asked specifically about if the show would focus on standalone episodes or stick to the larger mythology of the show, Coogler gave the answer fans want to hear, while also addressing the pressure that he knows the fan base will have for the series.

“I mean, it wouldn’t be X-Files if we didn’t do both. We intend on having both Monsters of the Week and the overarching conspiracy. But that’s what I’m doing now, (Black Panther 3) comes after that….I’m blessed to be working on things. It’s cool, it’s also nice to have something that has the pressure of the fans, a lot of really smart people that I don’t want to let down.”

To his credit, Coogler is right, fans would expect both types of episodes for The X-Files when the new series finally makes its way to television. There is just one problem, though, the mythology of The X-Files was quite convoluted even before the series got revived in 2016, with Seasons 10 and 11 dealing surprise twists to the big picture that new episodes would be hard-pressed to ignore or write off entirely, revelations like William Mulder not actually being the son of Fox but actually The Cigarette Smoking Man.

Despite the complications that the new series will have to navigate, it has already been confirmed that original series creator Chris Carter won’t be involved in the revival. Some fans may see this as a sign that some of the worst storytelling tendencies of later seasons of The X-Files may be lost, and that may be the case, but what’s clear with that news is that new perspectives are coming to the franchise, and they could be what fixes it.