Ryan Coogler is currently shooting the pilot for The X-Files reboot in Vancouver. I’m so excited! It stars Danielle Deadwyler and Himesh Patel as new FBI agents. During an appearance on Happy Sad Confused earlier this year, Coogler confirmed that his series will follow the same format as the original one, with both Monster-of-the-Week episodes and an overarching mythology. Last year, he promised that some of the episodes will be ”really f-cking scary”. Gillian Anderson, who has read the pilot script, called it ”really good”. If the pilot gets picked up, then the series will air on Hulu.

This week, we got another casting update, and no, it’s not an Anderson confirmation. I still think that if she appears, it will be kept a secret until the episode drops. Coogler and co. must be optimistic about their chances at getting a full season order because Deadline reported the names of eight actors who have been cast in guest roles, including Amy Madigan, Steve Buscemi, and Ben Foster. From Deadline:

Hulu’s reboot of The X-Files from Ryan Coogler has cast eight in guest roles, including recent Weapons best supporting actress Oscar winner Amy Madigan, Steve Buscemi, Ben Foster, Devery Jacobs, Lochlyn Munro, Tantoo Cardinal, Joel D. Montgrand and Sofia Grace Clifton.

The group joins previously cast leads Himesh Patel and Danielle Deadwyler, who play two highly decorated but vastly different FBI agents. They form an unlikely bond when they are assigned to a long-shuttered division devoted to cases involving unexplained phenomena.

Coogler, who just won an original screenplay Oscar for Sinners, is writing and directing the pilot and serves as EP on the Onyx Collective Studio and 20th Television production. X-Files creator Chris Carter is an EP on the reboot. Jennifer Yale is the showrunner and EP, while Sev Ohanian and Zinzi Coogler are EPing under the Cooglers’ Proximity Media banner. The company’s Simone Harris is a co-executive producer. Proximity Media’s director of development Dezi Gallegos will also help to oversee the pilot. Deadwyler and Patel are Co-EPs.

[From Deadline]

That is a pretty stacked list of guest stars. I wonder if they’re all just guests for the pilot or if some of those roles will become recurring throughout the series. You just know that Madigan and Buscemi are going to make a meal of whatever roles they’re playing. I am a little leery seeing so many big names, though. I hope they don’t go the same route as other quirky procedurals like Elsbeth and Poker Face, where there’s a well-known guest actor that usually plays the bad guy. Although, speaking of Elsbeth, if the series gets picked up I’d like to submit Michael Emerson’s name for guest consideration.

These actors have big shoes to fill. The X-Files first run had some pretty memorable, epic guest stars, like Peter Boyle’s Clyde Bruckman, Luke Wilson as the sheriff in Bad Blood, and Doug Hutchinson’s Eugene Tooms. I am certain that Coogler will deliver, though! After all, he is doing this reboot for his mother. He wouldn’t let her (or us) down!

Anyway, this casting news made me take a stroll down X-F memory lane of guest stars past. Lucy Liu, Ryan Reynolds, Seth Green, and Jack Black all also appeared on the show before they got famous. Also, fun fact: Bryan Cranston’s guest role in season 6’s Drive, which was written by Vince Gilligan, is how he ended up being cast on Breaking Bad. Man, I need to do a rewatch of seasons 1-6 to see who else pops up.

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Photos credit: Cat Morley/Avalon, Image Press Agency/Image Press Agency/Avalon, Getty Images, Helen Sloan/Netflix, SI/Avalon