During its heyday in the 1990s, The X-Files was one of the most consistently great shows on television. Its deep affection for supernatural conspiracy lore combined with its made-for-fan-fiction partnership between Fox Mulder and Dana Scully resulted in a show that you just couldn’t stop watching… until star David Duchovny left and Fox insisted on dragging it out forever until no one watched it anymore. By the end it got so boring that I couldn’t even get through reading the Wikipedia summary of the series finale.
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At any rate, it’s been 13 years since the show ended on a hugely unsatisfying conclusion that left a lot of open ends. In those 13 years, we imagine that show creator Chris Carter has come up with some fresh new material to work with and we’re excited that this summer we’re finally get to see what he’s been cooking up for over a decade.
Per Deadline, Fox announced this week that it will bring The X-Files back for a limited six-episode run this coming summer. And the best news is that the show will feature both Gillian Anderson and the aforementioned Duchovny returning in their roles as Scully and Mulder, respectively.
“We had the privilege of working with Chris on all nine seasons of The X-Files – one of the most rewarding creative experiences of our careers,” said Fox TV Group chairmen Dana Walden and Gary Newman in their announcement. “The X-Files was not only a seminal show for both the studio and the network, it was a worldwide phenomenon that shaped pop culture – yet remained a true gem for the legions of fans who embraced it from the beginning.”
This all sounds great but what I really want to see is William B. Davis reprise his role as the Cigarette-Smoking Man, one of the show’s best and spookiest villains.