Despite its mostly-dour outer demeanor, The X-Files handled comedy better than a lot of actual comedies; there might be a few duds in the show’s long list of less-serious cases, but the highlights—including Darin Morgan-penned classics like “Jose Chung’s From Outer Space” and “Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose”—stand up pretty well against most of the “actual” comedy that was being produced for TV back in the 1990s. Gifted with a host of hilarious writers, and blessed with the low-key comic talents of David Duchovny, and especially Gillian Anderson, the show often delighted in puncturing its own aura of self-seriousness with an episode reminding you of just how weird and silly its two leads’ lives could be.
All of which makes us slightly less leery of the announcement, reported by Variety today, that Fox is now moving forward with plans for an animated comedy version of the long-running paranormal investigation series. Series creator Chris Carter—presumably happy to find a way to keep the X-Files train rolling now that Duchovny and Anderson are reportedly thoroughly re-booted out—will of course serve as executive producer, but it’ll be primarily written and produced by Rocky Russo and Jeremy Sosenko, who’s previous credits include segments of Movie 43, three episodes of Paradise PD, and a whole bunch of Brickleberry, and, oh, yeah, there’s that leeriness coming back again.
The series will focus on the “B-Team of the X-Files,” i.e., a squad of characters investigating the cases not cool enough for Mulder and Scully’s attention. In other words: It’s Star Trek: Lower Decks, but for The X-Files. Which, again, isn’t a terrible idea—steering into the weird, funny minutiae of this show’s universe probably makes more sense than it does over in Star Trek. Also, this feels like a gimme for getting Kumail Nanjiani back into the fold for the franchise, and we’re always up to see more of Kumail totally geeking out with his X-Files love.