The Cult Horror Series That Inspired ‘The X-Files’ Finally Gets the Action Figure Treatment [Exclusive]

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Published Mar 16, 2026, 12:00 PM EDT

A cinematic obsessive with the filmic palate of a starving raccoon, Rob London will watch pretty much anything once. With a mind like a steel trap, he's an endless fount of movie and TV trivia, borne from a misspent youth of watching monster movies on TV, perusing the sun-faded goods at the local video rental shop, and staining his fingers with ink from the Video Movie Guide. Areas of interest include science fiction, film noir, horror flicks, '70s disaster pictures, Bond movies, '90s action, giant robots, dinosaurs, super heroes, and the exuberantly schlocky output of Cannon Films. He also enjoys both Star Trek and Star Wars when they're good, and maybe even more when they're bad. As a Canadian, he also has a vested interest in Canadian movies and TV shows, especially the cheesier ones dubbed "Canuxploitation."

An expert on Marvel Comics, he has also written for the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, and is a member of the Marvel Research Team. He can frequently be found pontificating on comic-book continuity or bemoaning the misfortunes of the Toronto Maple Leafs on his Twitter account.

Long before Mulder and Scully started investigating The X-Files, Carl Kolchak exposed the paranormal, the supernatural, and the just plain weird on the cult TV series Kolchak: The Night Stalker. Now, Kolchak and his most memorable foe are getting their own action figures from Wandering Planet Toys. Collider is proud to present an exclusive look at the retro-style Kolchak lunchbox that Wandering Planet is offering alongside their action figures.

Wandering Planet is starting a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign to produce the first-ever action figure of Carl Kolchak in 1/12 scale; the figure will have 22 points of articulation, two interchangeable heads (one with his trademark hat, and one without), and swappable hands. He'll also come with a bevy of accessories, including his typewriter, camera, tape recorder, and a crucifix. You can get Kolchak on his lonesome, as well as a variant blood-spattered figure who will come in a two-pack with a 1/12 scale figure of his first foe, the vampire Janos Skorzeny. The lunchbox, which we are exclusively revealing below, will feature art from the Kolchak comic book series by Colton Worley on a retro-style metal lunchbox. The crowdfunding campaign is launching soon, so keep your eye on their Kickstarter page.

What Is 'Kolchak: The Night Stalker' About?

Reporter Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin, A Christmas Story) first appeared in The Night Stalker, a TV movie based on a novel by Jeff Rice and adapted for TV by horror legend Richard Matheson (Duel). The film, which pitted the crusading scribe against a serial killer, Janos Skorzeny (Barry Atwater, Star Trek: The Original Series), who turned out to be a vampire. The Night Stalker earned the highest ratings of any TV movie in history, so a sequel, The Night Strangler, soon followed, then an ongoing series, titled Kolchak: The Night Stalker. The series pitted Kolchak against a different supernatural menace every week, including aliens, werewolves, and zombies. It was the first major TV job for future Sopranos creator David Chase, and was the first screen credit for Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, who would go on to create Back to the Future. The series only ran for one season, but became a cult hit in reruns. It has since been revived via comic books and novels; a short-lived reboot series, starring Stuart Townsend as Kolchak, ran for six episodes on ABC in 2005.

Kolchak was a key influence in Chris Carter's creation of The X-Files. As an homage, Carter cast McGavin as Arthur Dales, the FBI agent who'd founded the X-Files decades earlier, on two episodes of the series.

Wandering Planet's Kickstarter campaign for their Kolchak: The Night Stalker figures is kicking off soon. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.

Release Date 1974 - 1975-00-00

Directors Allen Baron, Don Weis, Alexander Grasshoff, Bruce Kessler, Gene Levitt, Gordon Hessler, Robert Scheerer, Vincent McEveety

Writers David Chase, Rudolph Borchert, Bill S. Ballinger, Arthur Rowe, John Huff, Paul Playdon, Stephen Lord, Zekial Marko, L. Ford Neale, Donn Mullally