Good news for X-Philes: Fox has confirmed that The X-Files event series is going forward. We reported a few days ago that the order would be less than ten, and Fox’s press release specifies that there will be six new episodes, which will be helmed by executive producer/creator Chris Carter and star David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson.
There are no plot details, and filming won’t begin until this summer, but Carter sees that the show’s return is like coming back from “a 13-year commercial break”, and “The good news is the world has only gotten that much stranger, a perfect time to tell these six stories.” Does this mean that these six episodes will be standalone (like the best X-Files episodes) or will this be a six-episode arc? 2008’s X-Files: I Want to Believe took the series to its supernatural side rather than the aliens, and the result was a serviceable, largely forgettable feature.
Television is a better home for the series anyway, and it will now be returning to the landscape it helped create. X-Files paved the way for mainstream genre television and showed that there was an audience for dramas that went beyond cops, lawyers, and doctors. It wasn’t the first paranormal show, but it managed to land in the zeitgeist like few before.
So what new mysteries lie ahead in the mid-2010s? How will current technology affect the investigations? What’s changed with Mulder and Scully since 2008? Will they be bringing back Mitch Pileggi to play Walter Skinner? What about the Lone Gunman? And most importantly, will the show be any good?
Whether you’re the believer or the skeptic, sound off in the comments section.
Here’s the press release:
“THE X-FILES” RETURNS TO FOX
Emmy Award-winning Pop Culture Phenomenon
From Chris Carter Is Back as Six-Episode Event Series
David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson to Reprise Their Roles as
FBI Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully
Thirteen years after the original series run, FOX has ordered the next mind-bending chapter of THE X-FILES, a thrilling, six-episode event series which will be helmed by creator/executive producer Chris Carter with stars David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson re-inhabiting their roles as iconic FBI Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully. This marks the momentous return of the Emmy- and Golden Globe Award-winning pop culture phenomenon, which remains one of the longest-running sci-fi series in network television history.
The announcement was made today by Dana Walden and Gary Newman, Chairmen and CEOs of Fox Television Group and Chris Carter, creator and executive producer of THE X-FILES. Production on THE X-FILES event series is set to begin in summer 2015. Further details remain under wraps and will be announced at a later date.
“I think of it as a 13-year commercial break,” said Carter. “The good news is the world has only gotten that much stranger, a perfect time to tell these six stories.”
“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 – and we couldn’t be more excited to explore that incredible world with him again,” remarked Newman and Walden. “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. Few shows on television have drawn such dedicated fans as THE X-FILES, and we’re ecstatic to give them the next thrilling chapter of Mulder and Scully they’ve been waiting for.”
THE X-FILES originally premiered in September 1993. Over the course of its nine-season run, the influential series went from breakout sci-fi favorite to massive global hit, and became one of the most successful television dramas of all time. The show, which earned 16 Emmy Awards, five Golden Globes and a Peabody Award, follows FBI special agents Scully (Anderson) and Mulder (Duchovny) as they investigate unexplained cases – “X-Files” – for which the only answers involve paranormal phenomena.
Produced by 20th Century Fox Television and Ten Thirteen Productions, THE X-FILES is created and executive-produced by Chris Carter.