A director's cut of "The X-Files: I Want to Believe," titled "Vrach Frankenshteyn," is set to premiere on Disney+ and Hulu on 14 August, nearly two decades after Chris Carter originally intended to release it. The move comes as the streamer simultaneously develops a new X-Files reboot led by Ryan Coogler, giving the franchise a fresh push across both nostalgia and new content. Carter directed and co-wrote the original 2008 film with Fran Spotnitz, and his restored version reinstates horror elements that were cut to secure a PG-13 rating on theatrical release.

The 2008 film served as a sequel to the 1998 X-Files movie and arrived six years after the television series concluded, with David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson and Mitch Pileggi reprising their roles as Mulder, Scully and Skinner. Its plot follows the pair being drawn back into an investigation after a federal agent disappears, guided by a disgraced priest's disturbing psychic visions, in a story styled as a modern take on Frankenstein. Meanwhile, Coogler is writing and directing the pilot for the separate reboot series, which stars Danielle Deadwyler and Himesh Patel alongside a cast including Amy Madigan, Steve Buscemi and Ben Foster, focusing on two FBI agents assigned to a revived division investigating unexplained phenomena.