The X-Files

The X-Files have officially re-opened and the story remains as crazy as ever. Now that Wednesday’s Season 11 premiere thoroughly reversed the 2016 finale and dropped one whopper of a twist about Scully and the Smoking Man, Chris Carter tells angry fans that they’d always intended as much.

It seems like only yesterday we were welcoming Mulder and Scully back from a fourteen-year X-Files absence, and goodbyes may already be in order. Star Gillian Anderson doubles down on previous suggestions that Season 11 would mark the last for Dana Scully, so soak it in while you can.

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.

The last X-Files revival seemingly introduced two Mulder and Scully-esque agents to carry the torch, so might Season 11 make the same effort? We’ll find out, as Season 10 stars Robbie Amell and Lauren Ambrose have also booked their return tickets.

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!

The shortened run of The X-Files’ first FOX revival left little room for meaningful cameos of prior cast, so will the eleventh season make up for it? We’ll find out, as Annabeth Gish’s Agent Reyes books yet another return, potentially joined this time by Robert Patrick’s Doggett.

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.