Danielle Deadwyler says Ryan Coogler did not need a long pitch to get her into The X-Files reboot. “He said, ‘Hi, I’m Ryan Coogler.’ And I said, ‘Bet,’” Deadwyler said on Obsessed: The Podcast, describing how she came aboard the new series that was announced in February.
Deadwyler and Himesh Patel have been cast as the reboot’s two leads, playing new FBI agents tasked with explaining the unexplainable. Deadwyler said she had not heard Gillian Anderson’s recent comments before weighing in herself, but called the gesture “kind” and “beautiful.” Anderson had pleaded with fans in March to give the project a chance, saying, “Have an open mind and give it a chance because it is gonna be f---ing cool. It really is,” and adding, “He’s such a cool guy, so talented,” of Coogler, whose pilot script she called “really good.”
That support matters because the reboot is not trying to recreate the old formula. Coogler, the director of Sinners, is steering a new version of a series that originally starred Anderson and David Duchovny, ran for 11 seasons, won 15 Emmys and later returned for a two-season revival in 2016. Some fans have pushed back against the new diverse reimagining, but Deadwyler framed the shift as part of the point. “When handles are being passed over, I think we need to get out of this idea that something has to remain in this way. Allow the change to happen,” she said, adding, “Change is—that’s the constant, that is the religion, right?”
Deadwyler, who rose to wider fame through Watchmen and The Harder They Fall and earned several major award nominations for Till in 2022, is also filming opposite Steve Carell on HBO’s Rooster, which has already been renewed for a second season. She plays Dylan Shepard, a college professor who invites Greg Russo to speak to her class about his latest book. For the reboot, Deadwyler said she is not chasing the old show’s ghosts. “I think that we just had rich conversations about–I’m not telling y’all. It’s X. I have nothing to give,” she said. “You get in a certain rhythm, and then you’ve got to change that thing up. And that’s what this is.”
