Photo from Gillian Anderson’s Twitter.
The X-Files will return to television — after a 13+-year absence — with a big premiere next year on Sunday, January 24th, following an American football championship game. The other five new episodes in the limited series will air Mondays at 8 p.m. on FOX.
Creator Chris Carter has broken stories on the six new episodes and filming is expected to start in metro Vancouver next month — June 8th to August 30th — with David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson reprising their roles as FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully investigating supernatural phenomenon. The X-Files redux will reflect the passage of time in Mulder and Scully’s relationship and the show’s mythology of a vast government conspiracy to hide the truth about the existence of aliens from the public. I suspect the new conspiracy arc will incorporate a vast government surveillance program of the public keyed off the real world NSA (National Security Agency) spying scandal. As with the original, The X-Files redux will be a mix of mythology and standalone episodes.
Other things we know:
- Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi), the Cigarette Smoking Man (William B. Davis) and maybe the Lone Gunmen will be part of the revival.
- Writers Glenn Morgan and James Wong will write and direct one episode each but former writer/producers Vince Gilligan (Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul) and Frank Spotnitz (The Man in the High Castle) are not involved in revival.
- Many of the original Vancouver crew are back for the revival.
- A successful revival could lead to more of The X-Files.
Gillian Anderson arrives at the FOX Upfront in New York.
Princess Gillian arriving at the Fox Upfront party pic.twitter.com/CEs7GKSATG
— Carrie (@EvilVagenda) May 11, 2015
Updated production schedule for @thexfilesfox is now… June 8 – August 22 #XFiles pic.twitter.com/byEiVC532C
— Production Weekly (@prodweek) May 11, 2015
The X-Files has extended its filming since to August 30th.
Filming dates from DGC-BC Production List and are subject to change.