Story highlights
The rumors are true: "X-Files" is returning
David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson and producer Chris Carter are all back
Carter: "The world has only gotten that much stranger" since the show went off the air in 2002
Smoking Man, time to light another cigarette.
Fox announced Tuesday that “The X-Files,” the series about the paranormal that ran for nine seasons in the ’90s and early ‘00s, is returning for a special six-episode “event.”
Stars David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson are both back to play Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, those FBI agents who always got a little too close to the truth.
” ‘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. We’re ecstatic to give them the next thrilling chapter of Mulder and Scully they’ve been waiting for,” Fox executives Dana Walden and Gary Newman said in a statement.
Anderson wasted no time in tweeting the news.
“The X-Files” concerned Mulder, an FBI agent who believes in paranormal phenomena, and Scully, who served as a check on his impulses. The series produced some memorable characters – particularly the Smoking Man, a key focal point of the series’ various conspiracy theories – and resulted in two movies.
Vince Gilligan, who later created “Breaking Bad,” got his start on “The X-Files” and occasionally paid tribute to the show on his later series.
Show creator Chris Carter, who will also oversee the new series, said he thought of the hiatus between 2002, when the “X-Files” went off the air, and this year as “a 13-year commercial break.”
But the timing is perfect, he added in a statement.
“The good news is the world has only gotten that much stranger, a perfect time to tell these six stories,” he said.
No premiere date was announced.