Nothing is a sure thing in Hollywood anymore. Hulu didn’t move forward with its much-anticipated Buffy the Vampire Slayer sequel series, despite the power of Oscar winner Chloé Zhao. And now, another Hulu reimagining of a classic series backed by an Oscar winner is waiting to hear its fate: Ryan Coogler’s take on The X-Files. With the pilot now completed, one of its stars, Himesh Patel, sounds cautiously optimistic.
Speaking to Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Patel—who co-stars with Danielle Deadwyler—obviously was tight-lipped about any plot hints. However, he did seem enthusiastic about its chances.
“It was very, very special, and we await a decision, of course,” Patel said. “But all I can tell you is that I had an incredible time.”
Patel admitted he wasn’t a devoted viewer when The X-Files premiered in 1993, but he has a good excuse: he was born in 1990. However, his mother was a big fan.
“I seem to remember my mom sort of telling me things,” Patel said, recalling her descriptions of episodes.
He also understands how important The X-Files looms in the pop culture landscape. “You really do come to understand the responsibility of it and the power of it as a sort of world.”
Again, no plot information, but Patel did say, “I think Ryan and his whole team, and myself and Danielle, were all very aligned in that we love depth. We love everything to have meaningful context … Ryan believes that the audience is intelligent, and he wants to give them as much richness of tapestry as he can. Hopefully, people will see it.”
While Patel admitted he’s personally more of a believer than a skeptic, he would not comment on where his character falls on that spectrum. We’ll all have to cross our fingers that Coogler’s The X-Files makes it to series and we get to find out.
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