Casting remains faithful with original white leads David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, and Mitch Pileggi, plus incidental diverse guest roles that feel organic rather than forced. Scully's agency as a capable scientist is established lore from the 1990s, not a modern feminist retrofit.

Minor modern touches appear in one episode where an AI learns racism ('Rm9sbG93ZXJz'), touching algorithmic bias, and vague post-truth nods fitting the show's eternal distrust of authority, but these are subplots, not drivers. No race/gender-swaps of established characters, no LGBTQ+ focal points, no lectures on systemic oppression, identity politics, or traditional norm critiques.

Production faced pre-season pressure for more female/diverse writers, but Chris Carter largely resisted, hiring a few women reactively without altering content. Audience reception criticized weak mythology and pacing, not ideological intrusions, with no 'go woke go broke' backlash—praise goes to standalone episodes for pure entertainment value unburdened by activism.