Gillian Anderson softens stance on retiring Scully amid Ryan Coogler X-Files reboot

In the interview, Anderson confirmed she’d spoken to Coogler about the project “and what I said was, ‘If anyone were to do it, I think you are the perfect person and best of luck, call me.’ At some point, if the phone rings and it’s good and it feels like the right time—perhaps.”

While riding the Sinners high, Coogler said he’s excited to get back to TXF and had his “fingers crossed” about Anderson’s involvement after speaking with her. Anderson famously said she was “finished” with the franchise after the revival concluded in 2018. “It’s time for me to hang up Scully’s hat. It just is,” she said at the time. Last year she elaborated, telling co-star David Duchovny didn’t like the direction the character headed down in the revival. “It felt like Scully’s trajectory was no longer one of strength and agency,” she explained. “It felt like it was beholden to an old idea of what a woman is… Literally all she could talk about was [her son] William and finding William. That’s literally a one-track song.”

But if Chris Carter wasn’t the one running the ship—and the “genius” Ryan Coogler was—that might tempt Gillian Anderson back into Scully’s suit. (At least for a cameo; Carter previously suggested Coogler was going to “remount” the show with a “diverse cast,” and fresh blood at the forefront would go a long way to making The X-Files feel relevant again.) Speaking about Coogler Files last year, Anderson acknowledged that her answer for returning has always been a hard “no,” but “maybe I’ll pop in for a little something something.” Just opening the door to the possibility guarantees she’ll be getting more X-Files questions for the rest of her life, but hey—that was probably going to happen anyway, right?