Mulder & Scully’s X-Files Sequel Gets New Update From Chris Carter After Hulu Reboot Greenlight

Nov 13, 2026 - 23:15

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Mulder & Scully’s X-Files Sequel Gets New Update From Chris Carter After Hulu Reboot Greenlight

David Duchovny's Mulder showing Gillian Anderson's Scully something on his phone in The X-Files season 11

Published Nov 13, 2026, 2:30 PM EST

Grant Hermanns is a TV News Editor, Interview Host and Reviewer for ScreenRant, having joined the team in early 2021. He got his start in the industry with Moviepilot, followed by working at ComingSoon.net. When not indulging in his love of film/TV, Grant is making his way through his gaming backlog and exploring the world of Dungeons & Dragons with friends.

Chris Carter isn't giving up on a full Mulder and Scully return in The X-Files.

The sci-fi franchise is currently in the midst of a major resurgence, with Carter finally releasing his horror-tinged version of the I Want to Believe sequel film, and Ryan Coogler developing a reboot of the original series. After months of silence, it was finally confirmed in October 2026 that Coogler's X-Files series, led by Himesh Patel and Danielle Deadwyler as a new pair of FBI agents investigating odd cases, had been greenlit by Hulu for a full series.

Now, in an interview with Page Six Hollywood for his new film Queens for a Day, Carter was asked about his interest in bringing David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson back for a new X-Files sequel after Coogler's reboot. The creator confirmed that he "would love the opportunity" to continue the pair's story in some way, but indicated the new show is one of the key things that is impacting the timeline now that it's greenlit:

Chris Carter: I think we have to wait until the Coogler show finds its audience and then figure out how we might do it with those variables or unknowns in front of us. I’d love to do it as a series or as a movie. I went to great lengths with four episodes during the last two reboots to set up [a new] story, whether it be a movie or a limited series.

Over the past few years, Carter has remained dedicated to the prospect of bringing Anderson and Duchovny back for a new Mulder and Scully-focused X-Files continuation. Though having previously expressed satisfaction with season 11's final episode serving as a series finale, the creator's always been keen to expand on some of the unanswered questions from the show, particularly that Scully was properly pregnant with Mulder's child, instead of malicious experiments, and that their faux son William was still alive.

Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny in The X-Files I Want to Believe 2008

Interestingly, Carter seemingly let it slip this past August that Anderson would be returning as Scully for Coogler's X-Files reboot, something she had steadily expressed her interest in and confirmed talks about. The franchise creator also expressed an assumption that Duchovny would be back as Mulder for the new series, though with Carter also electing to remain in the dark about what his successor has planned for the show, it also made it unclear how true that could be.

That being said, the details shared about Coogler's X-Files series upon its official greenlight did point to the possibility of the pair and others returning for the reboot. The plot describes the new show as being about the "long-shuttered" eponymous division being reopened by the FBI and tasked to two well-decorated but different agents, seemingly confirming it will be more of a sequel spinoff to the original show than that of a full reboot or retcon of it.

ChronoLogic

Rearrange the movies into the correct US release order.

Should Coogler's series prove to be a hit for Hulu, it certainly isn't out of the realm of possibility for Carter's X-Files goal to come to be with Duchovny's Mulder and Anderson's Scully. A film, in particular, could prove an effective way to avoid allowing either version to overshadow the other in audience interest, and set a more feasible path for Carter to continue and eventually conclude the stories he has in mind for his original mystery-solving duo.

Release Date 1993 - 2018-00-00

Network FOX

Showrunner Chris Carter

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