Gillian Anderson

We were surprised enough FOX managed to resurrect The X-Files once (let alone twice), but one had to wonder when David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson might call it quits. That day may finally have come, as Anderson says Season 11 is the last we’ll see of Dana Scully.

The X-Files are officially re-opened … uh, again. See for yourself, as our second revival answers the big question of Mulder’s fate (and raises all new ones) with a first full trailer for Season 11’s 2018 premiere.

We’re quietly optimistic for more X-Files, even after last year’s six-episode return brought little more than cliffhangers and one-off ideas. And while our first photos from the 2018 return don’t offer much, we do know about an upcoming time-jump, and a trip to the Smoking Man’s past.

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly where FOX’s X-Files revival went wrong, but the emphasis on stand-alone episodes over lingering mythology certainly surprised viewers. It’s even harder to say what lessons were learned, as the expanded eleventh season will apparently have even less focus on overall story.

A second revival of The X-Files had enough to answer for, so it wasn’t a good #look when the full list of writers once again excluded female perspective. Star Gillian Anderson wasn’t thrilled with the prospect either, adding to it a grand total of two women directors over the years. Well, congrats everyone! We’re doubling it!

Even as The X-Files professes to change things up in its second attempt at a FOX revival, Mulder and Scully wouldn’t get very far without Skinner. The beleaguered FBI boss will be back in 2018, as Mitch Pileggi signs on for Season 11.

Standing beside X-Files fan disappointment that Season 11 would lack key franchise writers was the realization that again, only men were invited to pen Mulder and Scully’s return. Star Gillian Anderson certainly noticed as well; voicing her disappointment and adding a low quotient of female directors.

Starz’s ‘American Gods’ brings Neil Gaiman’s odyssey to life with a dreamily perfect cast, but occasionally gets distracted in service of its extensive lore. Our early review, before the Bryan Fuller drama enters “The Bone Orchard” on April 30.

Well, they couldn’t wait eight years to reopen The X-Files, just to leave off on that insane cliffhanger, right? FOX finally got their act together, preparing a proper revival for Mulder and Scully with an expanded-order eleventh (and final?) season.

Here’s a little bit of free relationship advice for you: find someone who loves you like David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson love playing Mulder and Scully. It’s been more than two decades  —  two decades!  —  since both actors debuted their iconic characters on Fox’s The X-Files, and even after nine seasons, a movie, another movie, and a sorta-miniseries, neither one shows any signs of slowing down. In an era where audiences seem to demand that actors love their characters as much as we do, there’s something refreshing about two performers who come by such affection naturally. Anderson in particular is a powerhouse star of stage and screen, but get her talking about Dana Scully and she’s just as passionate as any of us.