Ryan Coogler’s The X-Files gets series order and UK Disney+ release
Danielle Deadwyler and Himesh Patel play two very different FBI agents assigned to unexplained cases, with Chris Carter executive producing and Jennifer Yale leading the series.
The short answer: Danielle Deadwyler and Himesh Patel play two very different FBI agents assigned to unexplained cases, with Chris Carter executive producing and Jennifer Yale leading the series.
Two decorated FBI agents, very different from one another, are assigned to a division that has been shut for years. Its remit: unexplained phenomena. That unlikely partnership is the starting point for Ryan Coogler’s reimagining of The X-Files, which has received a series order and will come to Disney+ in the UK.
Danielle Deadwyler and Himesh Patel star as the investigators, who form an unexpected bond through their work. Announced on 13 October 2026, Hulu’s series order follows the pilot order reported in February. The Onyx Collective series is produced by 20th Television in association with Proximity Media. The announcement does not specify a UK release date.
The leads share a television credit in Station Eleven, while Patel’s other TV work includes EastEnders. Their new assignment brings them together in a department devoted to cases that resist explanation.
A familiar world, a different way in
The original series, created by Chris Carter and launched in 1993, built its central partnership around opposing approaches to the unknown. David Duchovny’s Fox Mulder believed in the paranormal; Gillian Anderson’s Dana Scully sought scientific explanations. Their contrasting perspectives gave the investigations a human point of tension alongside the mysteries.
Coogler’s films include Creed, Black Panther and the vampire thriller Sinners: a career spanning established franchises and an original story. He wrote, directed and executive produced the new X-Files pilot, approaching Carter’s creation with both affection for the original and a desire to find his own way into it.
What Chris Carter created is special, and we wanted to honor everything that made the original series connect with so many people while also finding our own way into that world. Ryan Coogler
Jennifer Yale will lead the series as showrunner and executive producer. Her work includes co-showrunning and writing The Copenhagen Test, a spy thriller about an intelligence operative whose brain is hacked, giving an enemy access to what he sees and hears. Deadwyler and Patel will also serve as co-executive producers on The X-Files.
Carter is an executive producer on the new series. In an interview with Nerdist published on 13 August 2026, he said he had chosen not to read Coogler’s script: he wanted to be surprised and watch the pilot as a fan.
The collaboration extends to the score
Ludwig Göransson composed the pilot’s score, extending the project’s connection with Proximity beyond its production team. Proximity Music, co-founded with Göransson, has produced soundtracks and scores for films including Sinners, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Creed III.
It was also incredibly special to have our fellow Proximity co-founder Ludwig Göransson contribute the score for the pilot, making this a true collaboration across the Proximity family Zinzi Coogler, Sev Ohanian and Ryan Coogler, founders of Proximity Media