The X-Files is heading back to television, Doctor Who has both a possible future and a fascinating road not taken, and the Halloween watchlist keeps growing. Today’s Horror and Sci-Fi Brief brings together seven developments, including the new Dead of Night and The Third Parent teasers.
The News That Matters
Hulu gives Ryan Coogler’s The X-Files a series order
- Development: Series ordered
- Starring: Danielle Deadwyler and Himesh Patel
- Pilot writer and director: Ryan Coogler
- Showrunner: Jennifer Yale
The basement door is opening again. Hulu has ordered Ryan Coogler’s new take on The X-Files, with Danielle Deadwyler and Himesh Patel leading the cast. The story follows two highly decorated but very different FBI agents whose assignment to unexplained cases brings them together.
Coogler wrote and directed the pilot and remains an executive producer, with Jennifer Yale serving as showrunner. Original creator Chris Carter is also among the executive producers. That gives the new series a connection to its roots while leaving room for a different partnership to drive it. There is no premiere date in the announcement, so this is a reason to look ahead rather than clear an evening just yet.
The Doctor Who and Star Trek crossover that nearly took flight
- Projects: Doctor Who and Strange New Worlds
- Discussion: Russell T Davies on Pilot TV
- Collaborator: Steven Moffat
- Status: Unmade crossover proposal
Imagine the Doctor on the Enterprise and Spock stepping into the TARDIS. Russell T Davies says he and Steven Moffat seriously explored a Doctor Who and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds crossover, going as far as booking flights to Los Angeles for discussions.
Speaking on the Pilot TV podcast, Davies described a plan that could have stretched beyond a single episode, with Spock and Chapel crossing into the Doctor’s world. Competing rights, platforms and production schedules proved too difficult to bring together. He has not given up on the idea, but enthusiasm is not a commission: this remains an account of a project that did not happen. Still, it is an unusually tantalising television what-if.
Davies points to summer 2027 for Doctor Who production
- Programme: Doctor Who
- Production outlook: Summer 2027, according to Davies
- Next chapter: New Doctor and companion
- Premiere date: Not announced
Russell T Davies has offered a more immediate piece of encouragement for Doctor Who fans. In his interview for BBC Radio 4’s The Media Show, he said production with a new Doctor and companion would begin to emerge next summer. That points to summer 2027; it is not a promise of a broadcast date, and Davies says he will not be involved.
The same interview addressed artificial intelligence. Davies criticised BBC director-general Matt Brittin’s praise of an unofficial AI-made Doctor Who episode, arguing that such remarks land badly with writers and artists worried about their work. Brittin has said his point concerned the pace of technological change and that human creativity remains central. For viewers, the practical news is the prospect of another production cycle, with casting and transmission details still to come.
Crystal Lake puts Pamela Voorhees at the centre of the horror
- US premiere: 15 October on Peacock
- Release: All eight episodes
- Starring: Linda Cardellini
- Showrunner: Brad Caleb Kane
Crystal Lake arrives on Peacock in the US tomorrow, with all eight episodes available together. Linda Cardellini plays Pamela Voorhees in the Friday the 13th prequel, which looks at the grief and violence surrounding the family before the familiar franchise story.
In Nerdist’s review, Tai Gooden singles out Cardellini’s performance as a major strength while finding the series uneven in tone and longer than its story needs. That is a useful distinction for anyone deciding whether to commit to the season: the central performance and the mystery may be the draw, even if the route through eight episodes is less assured. We have not reviewed the series ourselves. Pamela’s perspective offers the most interesting reason to return to these waters.
Dead of Night brings suburban fear to its first teaser
- US cinemas: 13 November 2026
- Director: Derek Sulek
- Starring: Dermot Mulroney, Scott Grimes and Jake Busey
- Distributor: Level 33 Entertainment
Dead of Night has released a teaser ahead of its US theatrical opening on 13 November. Dermot Mulroney plays Sheriff Weaver, whose town is shaken by a series of murders, while his daughter is drawn towards the danger. Scott Grimes, Jake Busey and Kirrilee Berger also star, with Chris Jericho among the executive producers.
Derek Sulek’s film draws on the atmosphere of fear associated with the Night Stalker era rather than presenting itself as a straight account of those crimes. The teaser’s appeal is that uneasy contrast between ordinary neighbourhood life and the feeling that nowhere is secure. Watch the official teaser below.
The Third Parent introduces an unwelcome guest
- Release window: In cinemas this winter
- Director: David Michaels
- Starring: Crispin Glover, Rob Lowe and Roselyn Sánchez
- Distributor: Bleecker Street
A family celebration takes a sinister turn in the first teaser for The Third Parent. Bleecker Street’s horror film brings Elias Witherow’s Tommy Taffy story to the screen, with Crispin Glover, Rob Lowe and Roselyn Sánchez in the cast.
The premise centres on a figure who appears during Fourth of July celebrations and forces his own rules on a family. David Michaels directs, and the distributor is advertising a winter theatrical release. The idea is disturbing because it turns the home into somewhere governed by an intruder’s demands. The official teaser below offers the first taste of that threat.
Hallowarrior’s Halloween invitation reaches the wrong people
- Streaming: 16 October on Shudder
- Writer and director: Ben Sottak
- Lead: Milly Shapiro
- Also starring: Ajani Russell, AJ Bowen and Shannyn Sossamon
Even after the apocalypse, Pumpkin wants company for Halloween. A new Hallowarrior clip shared by Dread Central shows Milly Shapiro’s lonely survivor broadcasting an invitation and telling anyone listening where to find her. It is a touching impulse with an obvious, nasty risk.
Ben Sottak’s film turns that search for companionship into a fight for survival when hostile visitors arrive. Ajani Russell, AJ Bowen and Shannyn Sossamon join Shapiro in the cast, and the film reaches Shudder on 16 October. The clip makes the character’s loneliness the starting point, giving the seasonal menace something more personal to threaten than a house full of decorations.
Movieversalfilm Takeaway
The X-Files order is the clearest long-term development today, while Doctor Who still leaves plenty of room for questions about its next chapter. For this week’s viewing, Crystal Lake and Hallowarrior offer very different kinds of seasonal horror. And the two new teasers share an effective fear: familiar places becoming unsafe.
Which has your attention today: a new X-Files partnership, Doctor Who’s next chapter, or one of the Halloween horrors?