Chris Carter Is Bringing Back The X-Files: I Want to Believe—Darker Than Ever
A director's cut of the 2008 film X-Files: I Want to Believe could finally land on Disney.
Mulder and Scully might finally get the cut Chris Carter always wanted you to see. And yes, the scary one.
The X-Files: I Want to Believe — Director 's Cut may hit Disney+ in June
Disney+ quietly previewed upcoming June titles and one line jumped off the page: "The X-Files: I Want to Believe – Director's Cut | Bonus Feature." That strongly suggests the long-discussed alternate cut of the 2008 movie is real and coming soon. What Disney has not clarified yet: how it will show up. The tag reads like it could be packaged as a bonus feature rather than a standalone title, but the format specifics are still a mystery.
The preview covers June arrivals, and the date floating around is Thursday, June 11, 2026. That lines up with a social post making the same claim on May 18. So, not 100% confirmed by Disney in plain language yet, but the tea leaves are pretty loud.
Why this cut matters
After the franchise 's first feature hit in 1998, the second movie, The X-Files: I Want to Believe, landed in 2008. The theatrical version was trimmed down for a PG-13 rating. The DVD and Blu-ray later included a few bits you did not see in theaters, but those releases were not the full director's cut Chris Carter has talked about for years.
"I made it too scary, basically, and I was told so by the brass at Fox, and they wanted a PG-13 movie. So we cut it back to be a PG-13 movie, and we thought, 'Okay, we've satisfied their demands.' The critics, the people who rate the movies, said 'No, it's not a PG-13 yet, you've got to cut it back even farther'."
Carter said that last year on the podcast Fail Better With David Duchovny, and he also hinted he had started working on the director's cut. Translation: there is more footage and a darker tone he has wanted to put back for a long time.
Expect Disney+ to spell out exactly what the cut includes (and how you will find it in the app) when they roll out the full June lineup. Until then, cautiously optimistic hype feels warranted.
Meanwhile: Ryan Coogler's X-Files reboot is moving, slowly
Separate track, same universe: Ryan Coogler is steering a new take on The X-Files for Hulu. This one follows two different FBI agents tackling unexplained cases, with Himesh Patel and Danielle Deadwyler in the lead. Coogler is writing and directing the pilot and executive producing the series, which is still in development. No release date yet.
- Leads: Himesh Patel and Danielle Deadwyler as the new agents
- Guest stars expected to appear: Steve Buscemi, Ben Foster, Amy Madigan, Devery Jacobs
- EPs: Ryan Coogler and original creator Chris Carter
- Showrunner: Jennifer Yale
- Platform: Hulu (U.S.)
If Disney+ really does drop Carter's scarier cut on June 11, I will be there. And if the reboot sticks the landing with that talent pile-up, we might be heading into a genuinely interesting new era for The X-Files. Your move, Disney.