Actor Himesh Patel has a big summer ahead with “Enola Holmes 3” and Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey,” but another major project appears to be further along than many might have realized: Ryan Coogler’s “The X-Files” reboot pilot.
Speaking with the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Patel was direct about where things stand. “We shot the pilot,” he said. “It was very special. That’s all I’ll say. It was very, very special, and we await a decision, of course, but all I can tell you is I had an incredible time.”
The pilot pairs Patel with Danielle Deadwyler, with Coogler directing. For Patel, the original series was meaningful, though not quite in the obsessive, first-generation-fan sense. “Maybe not as meaningful as it is for people who really dived into it or lived it at the time,” he said. “I think I was maybe three or so when it first started, so a little young to be watching it. I seem to remember my mom sort of telling me things, though. She would like to tell me stories about, ‘I watched a show, and this thing happened,’ and I’d be like, ‘It’s weird.’”
When Horowitz joked that maybe his mother had been preparing him for the role for years, Patel laughed, “She believed in me.”
Created by Chris Carter, “The X-Files” originally starred David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson as FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, whose investigations into paranormal phenomena, government secrecy, conspiracy, and alien mythology made the series one of the defining genre shows of the 1990s. Stepping into that world, Patel said, makes the weight of the franchise immediately clear.
“You really do come to understand the responsibility of it,” he said, “and the power of it as a world.”
The original show’s most famous phrase, “the truth is out there,” lands differently in 2026, when the very idea of truth feels more contested than ever. Asked whether Coogler’s “X-Files” addresses that contemporary anxiety, Patel suggested the new version is not ignoring the moment.
“It’s obviously a contemporary show that I think of its time,” he said. “Ryan and his whole team and myself and Danielle were all very aligned in that way, that we love depth. We love everything to have a meaningful context, and, much the same as a lot of great filmmakers like Chris [Nolan], Ryan believes that the audience is intelligent. And he wants to give them as much richness of tapestry as he can. So, yeah, hopefully people will see it.”
Naturally, any “X-Files” conversation eventually comes down to skeptics and believers. Patel said Coogler made that divide part of the production itself.
“We actually, so there was, in the production office, a board, and Ryan had everyone take a Polaroid of themselves, and then there was believer or skeptic on the wall,” he said. Patel knew where he belonged, though with a caveat. “I put myself in believer, but I think I’m a believer maybe like one time out of 10,” he said. “I sometimes listen to these podcasts where people [recount stories], and you’re like, ‘You were just tired while driving,’ or, you know. But every now and then, there’s a story where you go, ‘That’s freaky.’ That I can’t explain to you, and that always makes me go, ‘There is something out there, isn’t there?’”
As for whether his character is a skeptic or believer, Patel did not bite. “We’ll see,” he said. “TBD, we’ll talk about that at the right time. Don’t worry.”
For now, “The X-Files” pilot has been shot, but the next step is editorial: Coogler and his team still have to complete and deliver it before Hulu decides whether to move forward. Patel, meanwhile, will next be seen in “Enola Holmes 3” and Nolan’s “The Odyssey.”
Rodrigo Perez is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Playlist, which he launched in 2008. He has worked in entertainment journalism since 2000, including at MTV, and has written for SPIN, IndieWire, Pitchfork, Complex, Magnet, and various music, film, and entertainment publications over the past two decades.
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