The X-Files first appeared on TV screens in 1993, tracking the adventures of FBI Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully. Initially Mulder was the one who believed in the weird and impossible, whether that ranged from the “monster of the week” or alien abduction, and Scully was the skeptic. Behind the scenes their immediate superior was ambivalent and various shadowy figures plotted and schemed, from Deep Throat to the Cigarette Smoking Man.
In time Scully came to believe what was happening; it turned out there were two rival groups of aliens (or possibly three) and a cataclysmic event was supposed to happen in 2012. The show ran for nine seasons; the first six or seven of them were superb; the last two, mostly sans Mulder, became overly weighed down by the series’ mythology and increasingly labyrinthine plots. The final seasons also suffered without David Duchony — the whole point of the show was to see what Mulder saw, particularly in the agonizing hunt for his sister and the uncertainty over his parentage.
There were also two movies. One, the first (simply The X-Files), pretty good; the second (I Want to Believe), rather dull. The limited success of the 2008 movie effectively ended the possibility of the third movie, which was intended to focus on the alien conflict over the Earth in 2012. The story did, however, continue as a graphic novel.
Now, however, time as past, nostalgia is high, and many TV shows that dip a toe into sci-fi and tales of the weird haven’t been that good. So, The X-Files is back, at least as a six part mini-series. If this is successful, then the possibility of a full-blown series awaits.
Plot details so far have been kept tightly under wraps. Mulder and Scully are in it, apparently not as active FBI agents. Their former boss, Walter S. Skinner is about; and so is the infamous Smoking Man, although he was seemingly blown to smithereens in the last episode of the final TV series. Maybe he survived or maybe he faked his own death.
On the subject of ‘faked deaths’, the intrepid trio of conspiracy theory lovers The Lone Gunmen are set to return. They were popular characters, played by Tom Braidwood, Dean Haglund, and Bruce Harwood, and they even had their own spin-off series. When this spin off faced the ax of cancellation, series showrunner Chris Charter killed them off. Or did he? According to Entertainment Weekly we’ll soon see Byers, Frohike and Langly again.
The new series will premiere on Sunday, January 24, 2016. The next episode with be broadcast on the following Monday, January 25, 2016, with the remaining four episodes running on Mondays.
