X-Files Series Canceled, Doom For The Entire Franchise?
X-Files animated series X-Files: Albequerque has been canceled, but a new reboot by Ryan Coogler may be in the works.
The X-Files spinoff, X-Files: Albuquerque, is dead in its tracks. The show, which was meant to be an animated comedy spinoff of the original, has been canceled by Fox, TV Line reports. The would-be series, which has been in development for more than two years, may have been canceled because of Ryan Coogler’s reboot of the original franchise, which would not be run on the same network.
Original X-Files series creator, Chris Carter, was attached to the animated spinoff series and would have been an executive producer, though he was not slated to write or showrun production. The series also would not have followed the original protagonist duo, Mulder and Scully, but would have centered on an office full of misfits who would have investigated cases too comedic in nature for the iconic team. While the pilot for the ill-fated series was already written (by Netflix’s Paradise PD Rocky Russo and Jeremy Sosenko), fans of the series will unfortunately never be able to see the episode in action now that the series has been canceled.
Hope is on the horizon, however, for those sci-fi fans who are ready to jump back into the mysterious unsolved cases known as the X-Files. Ryan Coogler, director of Black Panther and Creed (and one of Hollywood’s most popular up-and-coming directors), is slated to revamp the original series, this time with a more diverse cast. While no official announcement has been made for Coogler’s new X-Files project, the director has reportedly been in talks with Carter, and the original series creator is allegedly on board with a new reboot.
The original X-Files series ran for nine seasons on Fox from 1993-2002. Additionally, the extremely popular show also showcased two feature films, one in 1998 and another in 2008. After that, the series came back again in 2016 for a revival that ran for two seasons.
Although Fox’s CEO at the time, Gary Newman, said in 2018 that there were no plans to create any more revival seasons of the X-Files and Gillian Anderson (who played Scully, one half of the iconic duo) said that she was finished with the character after wrapping up the revival series in 2017, Carter has insisted that there would always be more stories to tell. “Hard-core X-Files fans know there have been no real endings on the show,” the series creator said.
While many fans thought that the new iteration of X-Files stories would have come from the animated series, now it seems as though fans will have to wait for Coogler’s live-action reboot if it’s actually happening. It might seem odd to introduce a new show and not have Scully be a part of it, but after 30 years with the same characters, maybe it is time for a change in the cast.
Even though Coogler has never created any work in the science fiction space before, we’re certain that the Marvel director will be able to reboot the series in a satisfactory way, as well as update it to fit today’s diversity standards. In a show that has so many possibilities of stories to tell and now has the opportunity to have a blank canvas and invite new actors to create new characters, Coogler’s X-Files will likely be very different from what audiences have seen before, but that’s also probably a good thing. So, while it’s sad that the X-Files animated series was axed, we’re excited to see what else Carter and Coogler are busy cooking up behind the scenes.
