Fox Developing An Animated THE X-FILES Spinoff

Fox is developing an animated THE X-FILES spinoff, the network confirms. (TVLine was first to report the news.)

In the spinoff, currently called THE X-FILES: ALBUQUERQUE, it follows “an office full of misfit agents who investigate the X-Files cases too wacky, ridiculous or downright dopey for Mulder & Scully to bother with. They’re basically the X-Files’ B-team.”

The series comes from BRICKLEBERRY’s Rocky Russo & Jeremy Sosenko, with THE X-FILES creator Chris Carter and writer Gabe Rotter involved as non-writing executive producers.

As of now, the only commitment is a script and presentation. And as someone who loves THE X-FILES, I’m very, very, very torn.

On one hand, this franchise means so much to me, so no matter what, if this goes, I’m going to watch it. (It might make me a sucker, but it’s the truth.)

The format is also very elastic, which could make swapping from live-action to animated form feel semi-seamless. Mulder and Scully have appeared in an animated children’s book, graphic novels, and, heck, even on THE SIMPSONS. The original series (and its revivals) excelled in part because it could go from a super serious episode one week to a ridiculously comedic one the next.

And, frankly, the animated format means the sky is limit for what these new agents battle; there doesn’t need to be concerns about budget for makeup or special effects…it’ll just all be animated.

On the other…there have already been so many spiritual sequels to THE X-FILES. Looking just on Fox, there was FRINGE (which was more of a traditional case of the week + mythology format) and more recently there was Adam Scott-Craig Robinson comedy GHOSTED, which basically feels like what this series is, but GHOSTED was live-action. And off Fox, there have been any number of shows inspired by THE X-FILES, most notably SUPERNATURAL.

What feels a little disappointing about this, right now, is that there really needs to be a reason why this is an X-FILES spinoff rather than an X-FILES-inspired show. Over the past almost 26 years, the franchise has introduced dozen of important characters a spinoff could follow.

And given where THE X-FILES itself ended, um, when will this be set? Will this be in the ’90s, during the show’s original era? When Mulder and Scully weren’t a part of the FBI? Present day? Will there be any homages to the original series?

Right now, because I love this franchise so much, I’m skeptical. But I hope to be proven wrong.

RELATED:

• THE X-FILES Cast and Crew Recreate the Theme Song for Charity
• THE X-FILES: Twenty Years Later, ‘How the Ghosts Stole Christmas’ Is Still a Gift
• THE X-FILES’ 20th Anniversary: ALIAS and FRINGE Boss Jeff Pinkner Talks About Its Influence on His Work
• THE X-FILES’ 20th Anniversary: BONES Creator Hart Hanson Talks About Its Influence on His Work

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