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It appears Disney will be releasing the director's cut of 2008's The X-Files: I Want to Believe (with bonus features) on Disney+ next month.
Posted in: Fox, Movies, TV | Tagged: The X-Files
The X-Files: I Want to Believe: Director's Cut Probing Disney+ in June
It appears Disney will be releasing the director's cut of 2008's The X-Files: I Want to Believe (with bonus features) on Disney+ next month.
Article Summary
- The X-Files: I Want to Believe Director’s Cut is set to hit Disney+ on June 11, reviving Chris Carter’s original vision.
- Chris Carter says studio demands forced a PG-13 version in 2008, cutting the scarier R-rated X-Files movie he intended.
- The X-Files film arrived years after the original series ended, making it a unique chapter before the 2016 revival returned.
- Disney’s X-Files Director’s Cut release could win over fans and build momentum ahead of Ryan Coogler’s planned reboot.
The X-Files: I Want to Believe is a bit of an outlier because it wasn't just the second and final feature of the beloved sci-fi franchise. It was also in a distant position regarding the television series. The film was released in 2008, though the original series' run ended in 2002, and we wouldn't see a return to the Chris Carter series until the 2016 revival that lasted two seasons (acting as seasons 10 and 11) until 2018. Creatively, according to Carter, it suffered interference from 20th Century, which wanted a PG-13 cut rather than the "scarier" R-rated version. At the very least, Disney is looking to rectify that by releasing Carter's original director's cut of the film on Disney+ on June 11th.
The X-Files: I Want to Believe – Chris Carter on Creative Changes Were Forced for PG-13 Rating
"I made it too scary," Carter told star David Duchovny on his podcast Fail Better in a 2025 episode, noting how he was trying to appease censors before scaling back. "Now I have a chance to go back and make the scary movie that I always intended," he explained. "It's not just doing a director's cut to do a director's cut. It's really kind of bringing to life something that for me was on the page and never got to the screen."
An extended cut of the film was available on the DVD release of The X-Files: I Want to Believe, adding just over three minutes of footage. The story, which focuses on Duchovny's Fox Mulder and Gillian Anderson's Dana Scully, with Mitch Pileggi also reprising his role as FBI Assistant Director Walter Skinner, follows the two former FBI agents trying to investigate a missing agent, who has been kidnapped, and a disgraced Catholic priest (Billy Connolly) experiencing psychic visions of the agent in question. The film is in line with the series's anthology of paranormal thrillers and monster-of-the-week stories.
Whether it's to right a wrong for X-Files fans or create some goodwill in anticipation of what Ryan Coogler has planned for his reboot of the series remains to be seen, but it's a bold first step in revisiting a project previously tainted by studio meddling. Upon its release, I Want to Believe recouped its budget, grossing $68.4 million at the box office. All 11 seasons of The X-Files, which also stars William B. Davis, are available on Disney+ and Hulu.
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