Hulu's X-Files Reboot Makes A Major Change To The Original Mulder & Scully

Image courtesy of MovieStillsDb Published Oct 14, 2026, 5:00 PM EDT Cathal Gunning has been writing about movies, television, culture, and politics online and in print since 2017. He worked as a Senior Editor in Adbusters Media Foundation from 2018-2019 and wrote for WhatCulture in early 2020. He has been a Senior Features Writer for ScreenRant since 2020. Sign in to your ScreenRant account Since The X-Files was a major hit thanks to its killer premise, the show’s upcoming Hulu reboot is taking a big risk by rewriting this central conceit. Without Mark Frost and David Lynch’s classic murder mystery series Twin Peaks, viewers would likely have never gotten The X-Files. The latter show’s blend of psychological horror, sci-fi mystery plotting, and straightforward police procedural thrills owed a lot to the earlier seminal ABC series, although Twin Peaks also had elements of small-town soap opera, deadpan character comedy, and surrealism. However, if Twin Peaks was instrumental in The X-Files getting the green light, then The X-Files could be credited with countless successful shows that followed in its wake. Evil, Supernatural, Grimm, Fringe, and even Buffy the Vampire Slayer all owed some of their success to The X-Files pioneering a blend of horror genre tropes within the well-worn cop show format. While the scariest episodes of The X-Files were pure horror, the show was mostly a sci-fi series, and even managed to fold some fantasy tropes into its storytelling. Since the original show was so influential, it would be tough for any subsequent spinoff, sequel, reboot, or revival to live up to the cultural memory of The X-Files as a franchise. Although 2008’s movie The X-Files: I Want To Believe was a fun comeback, the theatrical release couldn’t help but feel like a feature-length episode, and 2016’s two-season revival was a major misfire despite a handful of solid episodes. Sinners director Ryan Coogler’s upcoming Hulu reboot of The X-Files sounds more promising, but its biggest change could be a tough sell. Hulu's X-Files Reboot Changes How Its Two Lead Agents Find Each Other Image courtesy of MovieStillsDb According to the show’s official series synopsis, Hulu’s new take on The X-Files follows ”two highly decorated but vastly different FBI agents" who are "assigned to a long-shuttered division.” Danielle Deadwyler and Himesh Patel play the new show’s two leads, but eagle-eyed fans of the original series will notice that this synopsis marks a major existential divergence from the classic ‘90s show. A big part of the original show's appeal was the fact that David Duchovny’s true believer Mulder had already worked in the X-files department for years, whereas Gillian Anderson’s skeptical Agent Scully was forced to join him there at the start of the series. This meant there was an in-built conflict between the duo, as Mulder perceived the department’s work as the culmination of years of tireless research, whereas Scully saw his efforts as almost inane paranoia. In contrast, both agents are coming into the division fresh in the reboot, which fundamentally changes the premise. This may well work in the show’s favor, redefining the dynamics between the two characters. If Zach Cregger’s incredibly successful Resident Evil reboot proves anything, it is that a talented horror director with a vision can take a major risk with a familiar franchise and successfully redefine its story in the process. Hulu's Mulder & Scully Change Can Refresh The Main Duo's Dynamic (Without Totally Rewriting It) However, changing the origin story of Mulder and Scully is still a high-risk endeavor. Although the original show’s many monster-of-the-week episodes were often memorable and its series-long myth arc was famously influential in the world of Mystery Box TV plotting, it is worth remembering how much the differences between Mulder and Scully, and their resulting push/pull dynamic, were still the engine driving the series. From the Stephen King adaptation The Outsider to True Detective, plenty of subsequent dark detective thrillers borrowed this dynamic, wherein one partner is a potentially paranoid conspiracy theorist and the other is a strait-laced, by-the-book agent who won’t give any quarter to paranormal or supernatural ideas. This was a big part of what made The X-Files work, meaning Hulu’s reboot must find a way to reinvent the dynamic without completely losing this central tension. Release Date 1993 - 2018-00-00 Network FOX Showrunner Chris Carter Cast David Duchovny Fox Mulder Directors Rob Bowman, David Nutter, R. W. Goodwin, Michael W. Watkins, Tony Wharmby, Daniel Sackheim, Michael Lange, Cliff Bole, David Duchovny, Jim Charleston, James Wong, Peter Markle, Rod Hardy, Thomas J. Wright, William A. Graham, Jerrold Freedman, Joe Napolitano, Kevin Hooks, Larry Shaw, Richard Compton, Tucker Gates, Allen Coulter, Barry K. Thomas, Brett Dowler Writers jeffrey bell, Frank Spotnitz, Howard Gordon, David Amann, Darin Morgan, Steven Maeda, Greg Walker, Chris Ruppenthal, Kim Newton, Paul Brown, Sara B. Cooper, Thomas Schnauz, Tim Minear, William Gibson, Jeff Vlaming, Charles Grant Craig, Chip Johannessen, Chris Brancato, Daniel Arkin, Gillian Anderson, Jessica Scott, Jim Guttridge, Kenneth Biller, Larry Barber Franchise(s) The X-Files Creator(s) Chris Carter