Details are still slim about the upcoming X-Files reboot, but the original show’s creator thinks it will be a tough one to handle.
The X-Files initially released way back in the early 90s, before the internet was as all encompassing as it is today. Sure, there were still conspiracy theories then, even on the internet too, but times have certainly changed and there are more people than ever that believe in the outright unbelievable. For the original creator of The X-Files, Chris Carter, this is something that might be a bit of a problem for the upcoming, Ryan Coogler helmed reboot. “Everything’s a conspiracy,” Carter said to Inverse in a recent interview. “No one knows what the truth is. It’s completely subjective and relative now.”
Carter pointed to a recent example of this with the Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton, and how there were plenty of conspiracy theories as to what might have happened to her given the fact she hadn’t been seen in public since the start of the year. Middleton herself later revealed that she had been diagnosed with cancer, and had been keeping it private as she figured out how to best approach the situation. “Can you imagine, first of all, being sick – but then everyone’s got a take on it?” Carter said. “The most private thing becomes the most public thing, and then the most misunderstood thing.”
Interestingly, Carter reflected upon how The X-Files itself might have encouraged its viewer’s scepticism of the world, saying, “You do a show like this, [and] there’s media done on you and it’s like, what does that spawn? What does that produce? What is the result of that thing? It’s not always good.”
When it comes to the reboot, though, Carter appears to be excited about it. “It’s interesting, people say, ‘Aren’t you possessive of it?’ And I say, ‘No, I’m looking forward to seeing what somebody else does with it.” Coogler’s initial pitch of a reboot led to “a really nice conversation” between the pair of them, with Carter sharing that he “just asked him what his ideas were, and he told me, and I said, ‘Those sound like good ideas.'”
He did also note how Coogler has a hard job, and Carter isn’t wrong. The X-Files is quite a beloved show, so any kind of reboot has its work cut out for it. Other than Coogler being attached to lead the show, nothing else is known about it, not even a release window, so in the meantime you’ll just have to wait for more.