Gillian Anderson spent 11 seasons chasing answers as Dana Scully on The X-Files. But when it comes to Ryan Coogler’s new take on the sci-fi series, she’s keeping a few things classified.
While promoting her new Netflix crime thrillerAnimals, Anderson praised Coogler and expressed excitement at the idea of a new generation discovering its world of paranormal investigations.
“I think having Ryan at the helm is such a great idea,” she said. “And I can’t wait to see what it is that he’s done with it.”
“If it equates to a whole other multigenerational fan base who then goes back to discover the originals, or even starts from here forward, I think that’s great, fantastic,” she added. “Happy for the franchise.”
However, when asked whether she could share anything about her or longtime costar David Duchovny’s potential involvement, Anderson’s response was brief and coy: “Oh, to the latter question, I can’t.”
The X-Files originally ran for nine seasons from 1993 to 2002, with Anderson’s skeptical Dana Scully paired with Duchovny’s believer Fox Mulder. The actors reprised their roles in two feature films and returned for revival seasons in 2016 and 2018, extending an on-screen partnership that spanned decades.
A new version of the iconic sci-fi series from the Sinners filmmaker has been in development since 2023. It received a pilot order earlier this year, with Danielle Deadwyler set to star. Anderson has previously praised the pilot script and encouraged fans to approach Coogler’s version with an open mind.
Duchovny, meanwhile, told the Hollywood Reporter in April that he had spoken with Coogler but hadn’t read the script.
“There have been talks about certain things, but there’s nothing concrete at this point,” he said when asked whether he’d appear.
“I don’t know what the world of his show is. I don’t know if my character exists in that show,” Duchovny added. “It’s all hypothetical to me, so I can’t really address it.”
While a return for Mulder and Scully remains an open question, Anderson has another formidable woman for viewers to meet in Animals.
In the Netflix thriller, directed by and starring Ben Affleck, she plays Dayle, a fixer who steps into a crisis involving a Los Angeles mayoral candidate and his kidnapped son. The film arrives on Netflix and in select theaters Oct. 9.
Dayle is the person you want walking into the room when everything has gone wrong. Anderson has played plenty of women who project a similar sense of control, so I asked: Does she tap into it naturally, or do those characters bring out a different side of her?
She traces some of that confidence to her early years as Scully, when she was suddenly, as she puts it, “at 24, 25, having the authority of … bossing a bunch of male FBI agents around.”
“I think I’ve had so many years of being that person, that character, having that power, that it comes … naturally to me,” she said.
Now, she’s interested in shaking things up. She said she has been trying to “embrace characters that have a bit more … flaws.” Taking charge might not be their first instinct, “or maybe they aren’t quite as good at it.”
As for Anderson herself, that streak may have been there before she ever stepped onto a set.
“I think I was probably quite bossy when I was 5.”
