Mythology of The X-Files
Encyclopedia
The mythology
of The X-Files
, sometimes referred to as its mytharc by the show's staff and fans, follows the quest of FBI Special Agents Fox Mulder
(David Duchovny
), a believer in supernatural
phenomena, and Dana Scully
(Gillian Anderson
), his skeptical partner. Their boss, FBI Assistant Director Walter Skinner
was also often involved. Beginning with season 8, another skeptic named John Doggett
, and Monica Reyes
, a believer like Mulder, were also introduced. The overarching story, which spans events as early as the 1940s, is built around a government conspiracy to hide the truth about alien existence and their doomsday
plan. Not all episodes advanced the mythology plot, but the ones that did were often set up by Mulder via an opening monologue.
Most mythological elements in The X-Files relate to extraterrestrial beings, referred to by the writers as "Colonists
," whose primary goal is to colonize Earth
. Late in the series, this was revealed to have been planned for the year 2012.
—a collection of cases deemed unsolvable by the FBI
—were investigated solely by Agent Fox Mulder
(David Duchovny
). In an attempt to debunk Mulder's work, FBI Division Chief Scott Blevins assigned Agent Dana Scully
(Gillian Anderson
) to the X-Files as Mulder's partner. The Smoking Man (William B. Davis
), a mysterious government figure, attended Scully's initial meeting with Blevins. Mulder and Scully's first case together involved a series of alien abductions
in Bellefleur, Oregon. While investigating the case, Mulder explained his motivation to Scully; he became obsessed with aliens after the mysterious disappearance of his younger sister, Samantha
, in 1973. It has only been due to his connections in Congress that he was able to continue his work on the highly unorthodox X-Files. The agents' investigation revealed that the aliens were removing evidence of their experiments by controlling a paralyzed abductee, Billy Miles, who eventually recovered and testified about his experiences.
During their first year together, Mulder and Scully investigated a variety of cases involving extraterrestrial phenomena. While looking into the disappearance of an Air Force pilot in Idaho
, Mulder was approached by a mysterious man that Mulder called "Deep Throat". He claimed to have an interest in Mulder's work, becoming his informant from that point onwards. The agents also investigated the abduction of a woman in Iowa, and the cover-up of a UFO crash in Wisconsin. During the latter investigation, they met Max Fenig, a multiple abductee. Mulder's actions on this case prompted Section Chief McGrath to shut down the X-Files, but his decision was vetoed by Deep Throat. However, Deep Throat's trust was tested after he lied to him regarding an investigation involving a captured extraterrestrial. During this case, Mulder introduces Scully to The Lone Gunmen
, an extreme government watchdog group.
Based on a tip from Deep Throat they discover experimentation involving the creation of alien-human hybrids
in Gaithersburg, Maryland
. A mysterious assassin starts killing all those involved and captures Mulder. To save Mulder, Deep Throat helps Scully steal an alien fetus from Fort Marlene, Maryland. While Mulder's captors make the exchange, Deep Throat is killed. Shortly afterward, the X-Files is shut down by Mulder and Scully's new boss, Assistant Director Walter Skinner
(Mitch Pileggi
).
, , Mulder is given a new partner, Alex Krycek
(Nicholas Lea
), and meets a new informant, X (Steven Williams
). Mulder is recruited to assist in a hostage negotiation crisis when Duane Barry, an alien abductee, holds four people hostage. When Barry is captured, an alien implant is removed from his body, which Mulder provides to Scully for further analysis.
Barry escapes from the hospital and kidnaps Scully, believing that if he brings her to the original abduction site, Skyland Mountain, the aliens will take her instead of him. Mulder heads there but is delayed by Krycek, who is revealed to be an agent working for the Cigarette Smoking Man
(William B. Davis
). By the time Mulder makes it to the top of the mountain Scully is gone. Barry, who insists that aliens took her dies soon afterward following an interrogation by Krycek. When Krycek vanishes, Skinner re-opens the X-Files, claiming that's what the conspirators will fear most.
Scully turns up comatose in a hospital three months later close to death with no explanation about how she got there. Mulder is insistent that the Cigarette Smoking Man is to blame for what happened to Scully, and using a go-between, Skinner provides him with his address. Mulder confronts the Cigarette Smoking Man at gunpoint but is convinced that he'll never know the truth if he kills him. Mulder tenders his resignation but is convinced by Skinner not to do so, who relates to him a paranormal experience he had during Vietnam. Mulder is provided the ability to get revenge on Scully's captors by X, but is convinced by Scully's sister Melissa to visit her at bedside instead. Scully recovers and returns to work shortly afterwards. The agents later investigate a case involving alien biology being injected into teenagers in Wisconsin, and once again they encounter Deep Throat's killer, who is killed by the local sheriff.
When investigating a case involving the murder of identical doctors, the agents come across a shapeshifting Alien Bounty Hunter (Brian Thompson
) responsible for executing a series of alien clones. During this case a grown woman claiming to be Mulder's sister Samantha appears, telling Mulder of the Bounty Hunter's objectives and that she has the ability to identify him. When Scully is kidnapped by the Bounty Hunter, Mulder is forced to trade Samantha for her. After a botched assassination attempt on the Bounty Hunter, Samantha falls into a river and is killed. It is soon however revealed that the Samantha Mulder encountered was actually one of many alien clones of Samantha, the remainder of whom are killed by the Bounty Hunter as well. Through the help of X, Mulder pursues the Bounty Hunter to a submarine in the Arctic. Mulder is nearly killed when he is exposed to the Bounty Hunter's toxic blood, but is saved by Scully.
The fourth Lone Gunman, the Thinker, hacks into the Department of Defense's files, copying decades worth of classified information on aliens onto a digital tape that he gives to Mulder. Mulder angrily finds that the entire tape is encrypted in Navajo and attacks Skinner when he talks to him about the matter. The Cigarette Smoking Man begins a frantic search for the tape and visits Mulder's father, who calls Mulder to see him shortly afterwards. Before he can reveal anything to Mulder however, he is murdered by Alex Krycek. Mulder, who has been showing increasingly erratic behavior due to his water being spiked with LSD, confronts Krycek near his apartment, but Scully, fearing that Mulder will be blamed for his father's murder if he kills him, shoots Mulder instead. Scully brings Mulder to New Mexico where she introduces him to Albert Hosteen, a code-talker who can translate the digital tape. Albert's grandson shows Mulder a boxcar filled with alien-like corpses. The Cigarette Smoking Man tracks Mulder's location however and orders the boxcar burned.
. Mulder's unconscious body is found near the boxcar and is nursed back to health by the Blessing Way chant performed by Albert Hosteen (Floyd "Red Crow" Westerman). Scully is approached by one of the Syndicate members, known as the Well-Manicured Man (John Neville), who warns her that she is going to be killed, either in her apartment or by someone she trusts. Scully believes this to be Skinner, but he instead reveals that he has possession of the digital tape, which he had stolen from the agent's office. Scully's sister is mistakenly killed in Scully's apartment by Krycek and Luis Cardinal. Mulder returns to Washington and along with Scully track down a Victor Klemper, who reveals to them the location of a mining facility where the agents find an elaborate filing system tracking smallpox records. Returning to Klemper's home they are met by the Well Manicured Man who claims the data was collected by people like his father during the Cold War. Realizing the true intent of its use, Bill Mulder (Peter Donat
) threatened to go public so Samantha was taken to keep him quiet. Skinner hopes to exchange the digital tape for Mulder and Scully's reinstatement, but it is stolen from him by Krycek, who narrowly escapes a car bomb meant to kill him. Skinner is still able to get Mulder and Scully reinstated however by convincing the Cigarette Smoking Man that Hosteen and other Navajos memorized the contents of it.
After purchasing an alien autopsy video, Mulder captures a Japanese diplomat suspected of murdering the video's maker. Although forced to let him go, Mulder holds onto a satchel he was carrying, leading him to a ship, the Talapus, that he believes has salvaged a U.F.O. Meanwhile Scully finds a group of women who all claim to be alien abductees and claim that they recognize her. Mulder obtains a photo of World War II Japanese scientists, one of whom Scully recognizes, that he believes may be transporting an alien-human hybrid on a train. Mulder manages to get aboard the train, and is locked in a train car containing the hybrid with an assassin and a bomb soon set to go off. Meanwhile Scully is confronted by another member of the Syndicate known as the First Elder (Don S. Williams
), who claims during her abduction she was placed on a similar train car and experimented upon by the Japanese scientists. Mulder is saved from the traincar by X, who pulls him out seconds before it explodes.
A diver on a French vessel is possessed by an alien creature
taking the form of black oil
. When the remainder of the crew ends up in the hospital with radiation burns, Mulder and Scully investigate. While Scully visits with an old friend of her father's who was investigating the same thing as the French vessel during World War II, Mulder tracks down the source for the French vessel to a salvage broker who was buying government secrets on U.F.O.s from Alex Krycek, who was selling the contents of the digital tape. Meanwhile the black oil transfers to the diver's wife, then to Krycek just as Mulder captures him. Mulder attempts to get the digital tape from Krycek, but Krycek escapes and turns it over to the Cigarette Smoking Man instead in exchange for the location of the salvaged U.F.O.. Meanwhile, Skinner is shot by Cardinal for looking into why the murder case on Scully's sister was terminated. By protecting Skinner Scully is able to get her hands on her sister's killer. The agents track down the location of the salvaged U.F.O. to an abandoned missile silo but are stopped by the Cigarette Smoking Man. Meanwhile the alien exits Krycek and returns to its ship, resulting in him being locked in the silo.
The Syndicate would later attempt to discredit Skinner as an aide to the agents by staging and framing him for the murder of a prostitute in a hotel room. With the assistance of Mulder and Scully, Skinner is able to prove his innocence and ultimately kill the culprits after an apparent supernatural mediation with an ethereal manifestation that has occupied his dreams since a near death experience in Vietnam.
, Walter Skinner
and Michael Kritschgau are desperately attempting to find the truth behind the so-called alien object. Meanwhile, Fox Mulder
is still imprisoned by his own frenetic brain activity. Dana Scully
and Skinner are unaware of FBI Special Agent Diana Fowley's duplicity - she is working for the Cigarette Smoking Man
. Scully then travels to Africa
to unravel the secrets of the alien artifacts, finding something that looks like a buried spaceship
buried on the Ivory Coast. The object may prove that life originated elsewhere, and all religion is based on the Navajo contact with alien life. Unsuccessful, Scully returns from Africa to revisit Mulder in Washington, D.C.
, but instead she finds out that he has disappeared. She contacts Kritschgau and Skinner (who is forced into betrayal by Alex Krycek
) to find her partner. The Cigarette Smoking Man has taken Mulder to a place where all his problems seem to have disappeared. Fowley helps Scully locate Mulder, which leads to her death at the hands of the Cigarette Smoking Man.
While investigating a bizarre disappearance of a young girl from her home, Mulder becomes obsessed with the number of children who have vanished in similar circumstances. Scully fears that he is emotionally involved due to his sister’s disappearance. At the same time it is revealed to him that his mother, Teena Mulder, committed suicide. He then tries to prove that his mother did not take her own life, but is ultimately forced to accept that his mother's death was by her own hand. He is led by a man whose son disappeared years earlier to another truth - that his sister may be among the souls taken by "walk-ins", saving the souls of children doomed to live unhappy lives. Together they locate evidence that proves that Samantha was abducted by the Cigarette Smoking Man, and was forced to live in a now abandoned US Army base. It is later revealed that Samantha had become a "walk-in" spirit.
After a young boy with cancer (whose parents refuse medical treatment because it opposes God's will) recovers miraculously, Scully is intrigued. What she soon discovers is that his cure is not miraculous, but scientific - the work of the Cigarette Smoking Man. Eager, if wary, to learn of the truth behind his secrets, Scully agrees to travel with him to acquire the cure to all mankind's diseases - but is forbidden to tell Mulder. Scully is met by a man named only as the "Cobra" who is willing to give her the cure, but is instead shot dead by the Black-Haired Man. Mulder is then able to contact Scully, but is too late as the Cigarette Smoking Man has destroyed the cure and all evidence of it.
Mulder and Scully investigate a case which leads them back to Oregon, as in the pilot episode. With a series of Alien abductions taking place, Mulder and Scully are contacted by Billy Miles. Scully falls ill during the investigation and returns to Washington, D.C. The Cigarette Smoking Man contacts Marita Covarrubias and Krycek (after having him incarcerated in a Tunisian prison), in an attempt to revive the government conspiracy. With Covarrubias unwilling to assist, and Krycek seeking revenge, they contact Mulder after he visits an alien crash site. Skinner and Mulder return to Oregon, while Scully is hospitalized in Washington, D.C. Mulder becomes trapped by an alien device, and is abducted by an Alien Bounty Hunter together with Miles and several others. Skinner returns to Washington, D.C. where Scully informs him that she is pregnant.
(Robert Patrick
), the leader of an FBI
taskforce organized to conduct a search for Mulder. Although the search ultimately proves unsuccessful, Doggett is assigned to the X-file
s and works with Scully to look for explanations to several cases. When Scully learns that several women have reportedly been abducted and impregnated with alien babies, she begins to question her own pregnancy
and fears for her unborn child.
Doggett introduces Scully to Monica Reyes
(Annabeth Gish
), an FBI specialist in ritualistic crime, shortly before Mulder's deceased body suddenly appears in a forest at night. Following Mulder's funeral, Skinner is threatened by Krycek that he must kill Scully's baby before it is born. Miles, a multiple abductee who disappeared on the same night as Mulder, is returned deceased but his dead body is resurrected and restored to full health. Mulder also returns from death, with Scully supervising his recovery. Fully rejuvenated, Mulder investigates several X-files, against orders to do so, but soon gets fired, leaving Doggett in charge of the cases. Mulder continues to provide input on an unofficial capacity. With Scully on maternity leave, Doggett is assigned a new partner, an inexperienced agent who is obsessed with the X-files, but the relationship is only temporary.
Reluctantly accepting Krycek's assistance, Mulder, Doggett and Skinner learn that an alien virus recently created in secret by members of the United States government has replaced several humans, including Miles and several high-ranking FBI personnel, with so-called alien "Super Soldiers". Krycek claims that the soldiers are virtually unstoppable aliens who want to make sure that humans will not survive the colonization of Earth
. They have learned that Scully's baby is a miraculously special child and are afraid that it may be greater than them. They have only recently learned of the baby's importance, which is why Krycek told Skinner to kill the unborn child earlier. When Miles arrives at the FBI Headquarters, Mulder, Doggett, Skinner and Krycek help Scully to escape with Special Agent Reyes who drives her to a remote farm. Shortly after Skinner kills Krycek, Scully delivers an apparently normal baby while the alien supersoldiers surround her. Without explanation, the aliens leave the area as Mulder arrives. While Doggett and Reyes report to the FBI Headquarters, Mulder takes Scully and her newborn baby back to her apartment.
and Reyes becomes Doggett's new FBI partner at the X-Files office
. Doggett asks Scully for help on a case involving an EPA official who died after his car was forced off a bridge by a woman he picked up. The unknown woman's identity is later found out, Shannon McMahon, being one of Doggett's former Marine associates. She reveals to Doggett that she is a "Super Soldier". This leads them to a clandestine laboratory where a secret experiment is taking place on board on a naval ship. They later find connections with the experiments on the ship to Scully's child, William
Hopeful about reuniting with Mulder, a complete stranger offers his service to drive Mulder out of hiding. Scully takes the offer, but unknowingly gets herself and Mulder in even more danger. The "Shadow Man", a government agent
follows Scully. It is then known that he is a "Super Soldier" bent on killing Scully and Mulder. As confirmed in this episode, a "Super Soldiers" only weakness is magnetite
, which leads to the death of the "Shadow Man". Later on, Scully, Doggett and Reyes find evidence of a dangerous UFO cult which has found a second spacecraft similar to one Scully studied in Africa two years ago (as seen in "The Sixth Extinction
"). Misled by the FBI, the agents enlist the help of The Lone Gunmen
to protect Scully's son after they learn that the UFO cult apparently intend to kill the child. Doggett's gets run over by a car, leading him to be sent to the local hospital. As Brad Follmer
(Cary Elwes
) and the Toothpick Man (Alan Dale
) are trying to uncover the plans of the three agents, Scully and Reyes leaves Washington, D.C.
to find Scully's son.
Doggett finds a strange disfigured man in the X-Files office; believing he is Mulder, they test his DNA. The DNA test reveals him to have the same DNA pattern as Mulder. The disfigured man sticks a needle into William, which the other agents believe to be a virus of somekind. But is later revealed to be a cure for William's powers. The unnamed man is later revealed to be Jeffrey Spender
(Chris Owens
), Mulder's half-brother. Mulder returns from hiding to only be discovered looking for classified information at an army base and, after allegedly killing an apparently indestructible "Super Soldier", he is placed on trial to defend the X-files
and himself. But with the help of Kersh, Scully, Reyes, Doggett, Spender, Marita Covarrubias (Laurie Holden
) and Gibson Praise, Mulder breaks out. Mulder and Scully travels to New Mexico
to find an old "wise man", who is later revealed to be the Cigarette Smoking Man
(William B. Davis
). The Smoking Man is later killed by commands from Knowle Rohrer (Adam Baldwin
).
did not think of creating a "mythology" for the episodes focusing on extraterrestrial life, because "they were just stories we wanted to tell," which involved Fox Mulder
(David Duchovny
) on his personal quest joined in with his partner, Dana Scully
(Gillian Anderson
). Eventually, the writers saw that the most "personal" episodes were the ones centering on the government conspiracy. Another reason for the development of the mythology, was that the producers were afraid of not creating a thread between the episodes centering around the conspiracy, being that they felt it would be pretentious if they did not do it.
According to Carter, the mythology "sprung from" the pilot episode and its follow up, "Deep Throat", which set up the idea that aliens had been around for many years. Carter sees the final scene of "Deep Throat" as the "launching moment for the entire mythology". The main theme for the show starts with these episodes, being Mulder's quest to find "the truth" about his sister, Samantha Mulder
. Mulder's quest for the truth helped build the mythology, since his investigation took him into cases about the paranormal
.
After a series of stand-alone episodes featuring UFOs and extraterrestrials
early in the first season
, the show's mythology
developed largely based on the pregnancy of actress Gillian Anderson
, who became pregnant midway through the first season. Executive producer Frank Spotnitz
described it as "the best thing that ever happened to the series.", also saying "This mythology really ended up running through the life of the series, all because Gillian Anderson became pregnant". Although there were initially thoughts about Scully (Anderson) giving birth to an alien baby, ultimately the writers decided to work around Anderson's pregnancy. The writers decided on closing the X-Files
at the end of the season to separate Mulder and Scully from one another, and have Scully abducted, who would later reappear in a coma. In addition to the creation of the storyline concerning Scully's abduction, Anderson's reduced role in the first half of the second season permitted the writers to develop some of the other characters in the show including Assistant Director Walter Skinner
(Mitch Pileggi
), The Smoking Man (William B. Davis
) and X (Steven Williams
), and resulted in the introduction of the character Alex Krycek
(Nicholas Lea
). Krycek, who was initially created by writer Howard Gordon
to temporarily replace Scully as Mulder's partner for three episodes eventually grew into a character that lasted seven seasons on the show.
Prior to the season two
episode, "One Breath
" the "Cigarette Smoking Man
" mostly "lurked around in the shadows" and smoked cigarettes. The Smoking Man uttered only four audible words in the entire first season
of the show, all of them being in "Tooms
". R.W. Goodwin did not trust William B. Davis
to take on the part as arch-nemesis to Fox Mulder
. It was later revealed to the producers that Davis was running an acting school, and teaching such actors as Lucy Lawless
, who would make an appearance in the ninth season
.
In the two-part episode
s "Colony
" and "End Game
", Chris Carter
and Frank Spotnitz
along with some help from David Duchovny
created what would become a recurring character
named the Alien Bounty Hunter. According to Carter, Duchovny came to him and said "it be great if we had like an alien bounty hunter?" Carter was positive towards the idea. The actor, Brian Thompson
, audition
ed for the role in a casting session, where he was competing with another actor. Spotnitz and Carter had not much time to cast this character, but they knew this casting would be important since they intended the character to become a recurring character
. Thompson was chosen according to Spotnitz because he had a very "distinctive look" about him, most notably his face and mouth. After casting him, they told Thompson's agent that he needed a hair cut, because he was originally envisioned as a US Air Force pilot who'd been shot down. When Thompson came to Vancouver, Canada there had been some "misunderstanding" between them, and he hadn't been told of the hair cut. So the hairstyle seen in this and every episode since was a "compromise
between Thompson and the producers.
admits that David Duchovny
was very involved in shaping the show's mythology. His first notable efforts were "End Game
" and "Anasazi
". After writing the episode, Carter met up with a man who watched over the show by the Fox Network. He wanted the show to explain the paranormal phenomena in each episode. Carter responded with: "the interesting part about this for me was going to be telling stories where you left people wondering at the end, with the possibility that it could be real, but never ever stating that this is in fact the truth." "Anasazi" was the first episode of a three-parter where the writers introduced the government conspiracy arc following the Syndicate
. "Paper Clip
" introduced the idea of genetic material that was taken through inoculations.
At the end of season two
the Black oil
was introduced, which was an alien creature which invaded bodies and made them into living hosts. The Black oil was able to enter through a victim's mouth, eyes or nose; it would leave a victim's body to get back to its original form or get a new host. Later on in the show's mythology, it is discovered that the Black oil is the Colonist
s' lifeform; the oil was brought to Earth by meteorites to create hosts of the human population living there. The season four
two-parters "Tunguska
" and "Terma" hit the writers when they were trying to conceive a big and fun canvas to tell stories. So they decided to create a story which had connections to the Russian gulags
, which led to a "natural" idea that the Russians were experimenting separately from the Syndicate to create a vaccine for the Black oil. Shiban felt it was natural creating an arms race-like story between the United States and Russia, being that the Cold War
had ended a few years earlier.
With the season five episodes "Patient X" and "The Red and the Black
", the mythology became too hard for some viewers to follow. These two episodes marked the introduction of the Alien rebels who were fighting against the Colonists for their plan to colonize the known universe. These Alien rebels were of the same race as the Alien Bounty Hunters. Cassandra (Veronica Cartwright
) and Jeffrey Spender
(Chris Owens
) would make their first appearances in these two episodes. Two other characters, Diana Fowley (Mimi Rogers
) and Gibson Praise (Jeff Gulka) were introduced to the series mythology in the season five finale, "The End
".
", started the storyline following the Super Soldiers and the search for Mulder. As Carter always believed the only way to get the audience to keep watching the show was to give them answers. So when they casted Robert Patrick
as John Doggett
a new lead character, since Duchovny had sued the Fox Network and Carter for more money, while wanting to leave, the court said he must appear in 12 episodes in the eighth season and then leave. When introducing Doggett into the series, they wanted to give him an enemy, this eventually led to the Super Soldiers, who rose up in "Within" to take on the role as the new government conspirators. The reason for creating a new enemy was to make sure not to just create a "new Mulder". The original idea for the Super Soldiers was that the United States Defense Department was developing genetically modified human beings, this was the non-alien explanation, while these characters eventually became the new aliens. Dana Scully
took Mulder's role as a "believer" and handed her previous role as a "skeptic" to Doggett.
Carter himself has admitted that the mythology became "complex" and a bit "too difficult to" follow, and even more difficult for the writers to "add more layers on to it". While saying it got "more interesting" in some ways but at the same time less interesting in some other ways, he said he understood why long-time fans of the show were discontent at seeing a "Mulderless" season, but at the same time said the new characters introduced new fans to the show who reacted positively to the changes.
Annabeth Gish
's character Monica Reyes
, who would become a main character in season nine
, made her first appearance in "This Is Not Happening
". When creating the character for the episode, they wanted to give the character a personality who had much in common with both Mulder and Scully. Her first shot was four in the morning, her first scene in the episode was to run down a hill to discover a former abductee. The character along with Skinner be moved up to main character status in the ninth season
.
The original plan for season nine was to exit both Mulder, Scully and baby William out of the storyline in the following season. Season 10 would follow a storyline where the aliens were not the central focus of the mythology, since many of the writers, most notably Frank Spotnitz
felt that the alien-conspiracy storyline had gone on long enough "and played itself out." Season 10 would focus on what happened to Doggett's son, Luke, and the character of Reyes.
Mythology
The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...
of The X-Files
The X-Files
The X-Files is an American science fiction television series and a part of The X-Files franchise, created by screenwriter Chris Carter. The program originally aired from to . The show was a hit for the Fox network, and its characters and slogans became popular culture touchstones in the 1990s...
, sometimes referred to as its mytharc by the show's staff and fans, follows the quest of FBI Special Agents Fox Mulder
Fox Mulder
FBI Special Agent Fox William Mulder is a fictional character and protagonist in the American Fox television shows The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, two science fiction shows about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence. Mulder's peers consider his theories on...
(David Duchovny
David Duchovny
David William Duchovny is an American actor, writer and director. He has won Golden Globe awards for his work as FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder on The X-Files and as Hank Moody on Californication.-Early life:...
), a believer in supernatural
Supernatural
The supernatural or is that which is not subject to the laws of nature, or more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature...
phenomena, and Dana Scully
Dana Scully
FBI Special Agent Dana Katherine Scully, M.D. is a fictional character and protagonist on the Fox television series The X-Files , played by Gillian Anderson. She also appeared in two theatrical films based on the series...
(Gillian Anderson
Gillian Anderson
Gillian Leigh Anderson is an American actress.After beginning her career in theatre, Anderson achieved international recognition for her role as Special Agent Dana Scully on the American television series The X-Files. During the show's nine seasons, Anderson won Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen...
), his skeptical partner. Their boss, FBI Assistant Director Walter Skinner
Walter Skinner
FBI Assistant Director Walter Sergei Skinner is a fictional character in the American FOX television shows The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, two science fiction shows about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence...
was also often involved. Beginning with season 8, another skeptic named John Doggett
John Doggett
FBI Special agent John Jay Doggett is a fictional character in the American Fox television series The X-Files, a science fiction show about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of alien existence...
, and Monica Reyes
Monica Reyes
Special Agent Monica Reyes is a fictional character in the American FOX television series The X-Files, a science fiction show about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence...
, a believer like Mulder, were also introduced. The overarching story, which spans events as early as the 1940s, is built around a government conspiracy to hide the truth about alien existence and their doomsday
Doomsday event
A doomsday event is a specific, plausibly verifiable or hypothetical occurrence which has an exceptionally destructive effect on the human race...
plan. Not all episodes advanced the mythology plot, but the ones that did were often set up by Mulder via an opening monologue.
Most mythological elements in The X-Files relate to extraterrestrial beings, referred to by the writers as "Colonists
Colonist (The X-Files)
The Colonists are an extraterrestrial species in the science fiction television show, The X-Files, as well as the first X-Files feature film. The mystery revolving around their identity and purpose is revealed across the course of the series...
," whose primary goal is to colonize Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
. Late in the series, this was revealed to have been planned for the year 2012.
Season 1
Prior to the events of the series, the X-FilesX-file
On the television series The X-Files, an X-File is a fictional case that has been deemed unsolvable by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The files constitute an unassigned project outside the Bureau mainstream that is more or less concerned with unexplained phenomena. -First X-Files:The very...
—a collection of cases deemed unsolvable by the FBI
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
—were investigated solely by Agent Fox Mulder
Fox Mulder
FBI Special Agent Fox William Mulder is a fictional character and protagonist in the American Fox television shows The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, two science fiction shows about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence. Mulder's peers consider his theories on...
(David Duchovny
David Duchovny
David William Duchovny is an American actor, writer and director. He has won Golden Globe awards for his work as FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder on The X-Files and as Hank Moody on Californication.-Early life:...
). In an attempt to debunk Mulder's work, FBI Division Chief Scott Blevins assigned Agent Dana Scully
Dana Scully
FBI Special Agent Dana Katherine Scully, M.D. is a fictional character and protagonist on the Fox television series The X-Files , played by Gillian Anderson. She also appeared in two theatrical films based on the series...
(Gillian Anderson
Gillian Anderson
Gillian Leigh Anderson is an American actress.After beginning her career in theatre, Anderson achieved international recognition for her role as Special Agent Dana Scully on the American television series The X-Files. During the show's nine seasons, Anderson won Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen...
) to the X-Files as Mulder's partner. The Smoking Man (William B. Davis
William B. Davis
William Bruce Davis is a Canadian actor, known for his role as The Smoking Man on The X-Files. He has also appeared in Stargate SG-1 as Damaris, a Prior of the Ori and as Mayor Tate on Smallville...
), a mysterious government figure, attended Scully's initial meeting with Blevins. Mulder and Scully's first case together involved a series of alien abductions
Colonist (The X-Files)
The Colonists are an extraterrestrial species in the science fiction television show, The X-Files, as well as the first X-Files feature film. The mystery revolving around their identity and purpose is revealed across the course of the series...
in Bellefleur, Oregon. While investigating the case, Mulder explained his motivation to Scully; he became obsessed with aliens after the mysterious disappearance of his younger sister, Samantha
Samantha Mulder
Samantha Ann Mulder is a fictional character in the television series The X-Files. She is the sister of FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder and the daughter of Teena and Bill Mulder. As a child, Samantha was abducted, ostensibly by aliens, and was never recovered...
, in 1973. It has only been due to his connections in Congress that he was able to continue his work on the highly unorthodox X-Files. The agents' investigation revealed that the aliens were removing evidence of their experiments by controlling a paralyzed abductee, Billy Miles, who eventually recovered and testified about his experiences.
During their first year together, Mulder and Scully investigated a variety of cases involving extraterrestrial phenomena. While looking into the disappearance of an Air Force pilot in Idaho
Idaho
Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....
, Mulder was approached by a mysterious man that Mulder called "Deep Throat". He claimed to have an interest in Mulder's work, becoming his informant from that point onwards. The agents also investigated the abduction of a woman in Iowa, and the cover-up of a UFO crash in Wisconsin. During the latter investigation, they met Max Fenig, a multiple abductee. Mulder's actions on this case prompted Section Chief McGrath to shut down the X-Files, but his decision was vetoed by Deep Throat. However, Deep Throat's trust was tested after he lied to him regarding an investigation involving a captured extraterrestrial. During this case, Mulder introduces Scully to The Lone Gunmen
The Lone Gunmen
The Lone Gunmen are a trio of fictional characters, Richard "Ringo" Langly, Melvin Frohike and John Fitzgerald Byers, who have recurring roles on the American television series The X-Files. They also starred in a short-lived spin-off, also called The Lone Gunmen. The name was derived from the lone...
, an extreme government watchdog group.
Based on a tip from Deep Throat they discover experimentation involving the creation of alien-human hybrids
Colonist (The X-Files)
The Colonists are an extraterrestrial species in the science fiction television show, The X-Files, as well as the first X-Files feature film. The mystery revolving around their identity and purpose is revealed across the course of the series...
in Gaithersburg, Maryland
Gaithersburg, Maryland
Gaithersburg is a city in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. The city had a population of 59,933 at the 2010 census, making it the fourth largest incorporated city in the state, behind Baltimore, Frederick, and Rockville...
. A mysterious assassin starts killing all those involved and captures Mulder. To save Mulder, Deep Throat helps Scully steal an alien fetus from Fort Marlene, Maryland. While Mulder's captors make the exchange, Deep Throat is killed. Shortly afterward, the X-Files is shut down by Mulder and Scully's new boss, Assistant Director Walter Skinner
Walter Skinner
FBI Assistant Director Walter Sergei Skinner is a fictional character in the American FOX television shows The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, two science fiction shows about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence...
(Mitch Pileggi
Mitch Pileggi
Mitchell Craig "Mitch" Pileggi is an American actor. Pileggi is known for playing FBI assistant director Walter Skinner on the long-running popular series The X-Files. He also had a recurring role on Stargate Atlantis as Col. Steven Caldwell...
).
Season 2
Scully is reassigned to teach at the FBI Academy while Mulder is given lowly surveillance assignments. After he investigates extraterrestrial cases at Arecibo Observatory in Puerto RicoPuerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
, , Mulder is given a new partner, Alex Krycek
Alex Krycek
Alex Krycek is a fictional character in the long-running American science fiction show, The X-Files portrayed by Nicholas Lea. Initially introduced in the second season as a partner for main character Fox Mulder in the absence of his previous partner, Dana Scully, Krycek grew to become one of the...
(Nicholas Lea
Nicholas Lea
Nicholas Lea is a Canadian actor best known for his portrayal of Alex Krycek on The X-Files and on Kyle XY playing Tom Foss.-Biography:...
), and meets a new informant, X (Steven Williams
Steven Williams
Steven Williams is an American actor of films and television.Williams was born in Memphis, Tennessee and raised in Chicago. He is known for his role as Captain Adam Fuller on the Fox Network's hit TV series 21 Jump Street from 1987-91.He played Lt. Burnett on the CBS drama series The Equalizer in...
). Mulder is recruited to assist in a hostage negotiation crisis when Duane Barry, an alien abductee, holds four people hostage. When Barry is captured, an alien implant is removed from his body, which Mulder provides to Scully for further analysis.
Barry escapes from the hospital and kidnaps Scully, believing that if he brings her to the original abduction site, Skyland Mountain, the aliens will take her instead of him. Mulder heads there but is delayed by Krycek, who is revealed to be an agent working for the Cigarette Smoking Man
Cigarette Smoking Man
The Smoking Man is a fictional character and the antagonist on the American science fiction television series The X-Files. He serves as the arch-nemesis of FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder. Although his name is revealed to purportedly be C.G.B...
(William B. Davis
William B. Davis
William Bruce Davis is a Canadian actor, known for his role as The Smoking Man on The X-Files. He has also appeared in Stargate SG-1 as Damaris, a Prior of the Ori and as Mayor Tate on Smallville...
). By the time Mulder makes it to the top of the mountain Scully is gone. Barry, who insists that aliens took her dies soon afterward following an interrogation by Krycek. When Krycek vanishes, Skinner re-opens the X-Files, claiming that's what the conspirators will fear most.
Scully turns up comatose in a hospital three months later close to death with no explanation about how she got there. Mulder is insistent that the Cigarette Smoking Man is to blame for what happened to Scully, and using a go-between, Skinner provides him with his address. Mulder confronts the Cigarette Smoking Man at gunpoint but is convinced that he'll never know the truth if he kills him. Mulder tenders his resignation but is convinced by Skinner not to do so, who relates to him a paranormal experience he had during Vietnam. Mulder is provided the ability to get revenge on Scully's captors by X, but is convinced by Scully's sister Melissa to visit her at bedside instead. Scully recovers and returns to work shortly afterwards. The agents later investigate a case involving alien biology being injected into teenagers in Wisconsin, and once again they encounter Deep Throat's killer, who is killed by the local sheriff.
When investigating a case involving the murder of identical doctors, the agents come across a shapeshifting Alien Bounty Hunter (Brian Thompson
Brian Thompson (actor)
Brian Thompson is an American actor. His distinctive square-jaw profile, powerful voice, and imposing stature has led him to be typecast as a villain in many action films and TV series, and a some comedies: Joe Dirt, The Three Amigos, Weird Science, Key West, and Life Stinks.-Career:Thompson has...
) responsible for executing a series of alien clones. During this case a grown woman claiming to be Mulder's sister Samantha appears, telling Mulder of the Bounty Hunter's objectives and that she has the ability to identify him. When Scully is kidnapped by the Bounty Hunter, Mulder is forced to trade Samantha for her. After a botched assassination attempt on the Bounty Hunter, Samantha falls into a river and is killed. It is soon however revealed that the Samantha Mulder encountered was actually one of many alien clones of Samantha, the remainder of whom are killed by the Bounty Hunter as well. Through the help of X, Mulder pursues the Bounty Hunter to a submarine in the Arctic. Mulder is nearly killed when he is exposed to the Bounty Hunter's toxic blood, but is saved by Scully.
The fourth Lone Gunman, the Thinker, hacks into the Department of Defense's files, copying decades worth of classified information on aliens onto a digital tape that he gives to Mulder. Mulder angrily finds that the entire tape is encrypted in Navajo and attacks Skinner when he talks to him about the matter. The Cigarette Smoking Man begins a frantic search for the tape and visits Mulder's father, who calls Mulder to see him shortly afterwards. Before he can reveal anything to Mulder however, he is murdered by Alex Krycek. Mulder, who has been showing increasingly erratic behavior due to his water being spiked with LSD, confronts Krycek near his apartment, but Scully, fearing that Mulder will be blamed for his father's murder if he kills him, shoots Mulder instead. Scully brings Mulder to New Mexico where she introduces him to Albert Hosteen, a code-talker who can translate the digital tape. Albert's grandson shows Mulder a boxcar filled with alien-like corpses. The Cigarette Smoking Man tracks Mulder's location however and orders the boxcar burned.
Season 3
With Mulder missing, Scully returns to Washington, where she is suspended for failing to attend an OPR meeting concerning Mulder's behavior. While passing through the metal detector at FBI Headquarters it goes off, causing her to discover a small metallic chip that is removed from the base of her neck. The Cigarette Smoking Man is grilled on the digital tape by his superiors, a group of old men known as the SyndicateSyndicate (The X-Files)
The Syndicate is a fictional "shadow government" group featured in The X-Files television show and feature film created by Chris Carter. They were also known as The Elders, The Consortium, and The Group...
. Mulder's unconscious body is found near the boxcar and is nursed back to health by the Blessing Way chant performed by Albert Hosteen (Floyd "Red Crow" Westerman). Scully is approached by one of the Syndicate members, known as the Well-Manicured Man (John Neville), who warns her that she is going to be killed, either in her apartment or by someone she trusts. Scully believes this to be Skinner, but he instead reveals that he has possession of the digital tape, which he had stolen from the agent's office. Scully's sister is mistakenly killed in Scully's apartment by Krycek and Luis Cardinal. Mulder returns to Washington and along with Scully track down a Victor Klemper, who reveals to them the location of a mining facility where the agents find an elaborate filing system tracking smallpox records. Returning to Klemper's home they are met by the Well Manicured Man who claims the data was collected by people like his father during the Cold War. Realizing the true intent of its use, Bill Mulder (Peter Donat
Peter Donat
Peter Donat is a Canadian-American actor known for his roles in American television.-Early life:Donat was born Pierre Collingwood Donat in Kentville, Nova Scotia, Canada, the son of Marie and Philip Ernst Donat, a landscape gardener. His uncle was British actor Robert Donat...
) threatened to go public so Samantha was taken to keep him quiet. Skinner hopes to exchange the digital tape for Mulder and Scully's reinstatement, but it is stolen from him by Krycek, who narrowly escapes a car bomb meant to kill him. Skinner is still able to get Mulder and Scully reinstated however by convincing the Cigarette Smoking Man that Hosteen and other Navajos memorized the contents of it.
After purchasing an alien autopsy video, Mulder captures a Japanese diplomat suspected of murdering the video's maker. Although forced to let him go, Mulder holds onto a satchel he was carrying, leading him to a ship, the Talapus, that he believes has salvaged a U.F.O. Meanwhile Scully finds a group of women who all claim to be alien abductees and claim that they recognize her. Mulder obtains a photo of World War II Japanese scientists, one of whom Scully recognizes, that he believes may be transporting an alien-human hybrid on a train. Mulder manages to get aboard the train, and is locked in a train car containing the hybrid with an assassin and a bomb soon set to go off. Meanwhile Scully is confronted by another member of the Syndicate known as the First Elder (Don S. Williams
Don S. Williams
Don S. Williams is a Vancouver-based Canadian producer, director, actor, choreographer, and writer.-Early life:Williams was born Donald William Schlit in Edmonton, Alberta. He grew up in the small community of Stony Plain, Alberta - just west of Edmonton where he graduated from Memorial High...
), who claims during her abduction she was placed on a similar train car and experimented upon by the Japanese scientists. Mulder is saved from the traincar by X, who pulls him out seconds before it explodes.
A diver on a French vessel is possessed by an alien creature
Colonist (The X-Files)
The Colonists are an extraterrestrial species in the science fiction television show, The X-Files, as well as the first X-Files feature film. The mystery revolving around their identity and purpose is revealed across the course of the series...
taking the form of black oil
Black Oil
Black Oil may refer to:* Black Oil , an alien virus in the X-Files episode The Colonist* a sunflower variety...
. When the remainder of the crew ends up in the hospital with radiation burns, Mulder and Scully investigate. While Scully visits with an old friend of her father's who was investigating the same thing as the French vessel during World War II, Mulder tracks down the source for the French vessel to a salvage broker who was buying government secrets on U.F.O.s from Alex Krycek, who was selling the contents of the digital tape. Meanwhile the black oil transfers to the diver's wife, then to Krycek just as Mulder captures him. Mulder attempts to get the digital tape from Krycek, but Krycek escapes and turns it over to the Cigarette Smoking Man instead in exchange for the location of the salvaged U.F.O.. Meanwhile, Skinner is shot by Cardinal for looking into why the murder case on Scully's sister was terminated. By protecting Skinner Scully is able to get her hands on her sister's killer. The agents track down the location of the salvaged U.F.O. to an abandoned missile silo but are stopped by the Cigarette Smoking Man. Meanwhile the alien exits Krycek and returns to its ship, resulting in him being locked in the silo.
The Syndicate would later attempt to discredit Skinner as an aide to the agents by staging and framing him for the murder of a prostitute in a hotel room. With the assistance of Mulder and Scully, Skinner is able to prove his innocence and ultimately kill the culprits after an apparent supernatural mediation with an ethereal manifestation that has occupied his dreams since a near death experience in Vietnam.
Season 7
After the events of the season six finaleThe X-Files (season 6)
The sixth season of the science fiction television series The X-Files commenced airing on the Fox Broadcasting Network in the United States on November 8, 1998, concluding on the same channel on May 16, 1999, and contained 22 episodes. The series was developed by Chris Carter, who also serves as...
, Walter Skinner
Walter Skinner
FBI Assistant Director Walter Sergei Skinner is a fictional character in the American FOX television shows The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, two science fiction shows about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence...
and Michael Kritschgau are desperately attempting to find the truth behind the so-called alien object. Meanwhile, Fox Mulder
Fox Mulder
FBI Special Agent Fox William Mulder is a fictional character and protagonist in the American Fox television shows The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, two science fiction shows about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence. Mulder's peers consider his theories on...
is still imprisoned by his own frenetic brain activity. Dana Scully
Dana Scully
FBI Special Agent Dana Katherine Scully, M.D. is a fictional character and protagonist on the Fox television series The X-Files , played by Gillian Anderson. She also appeared in two theatrical films based on the series...
and Skinner are unaware of FBI Special Agent Diana Fowley's duplicity - she is working for the Cigarette Smoking Man
Cigarette Smoking Man
The Smoking Man is a fictional character and the antagonist on the American science fiction television series The X-Files. He serves as the arch-nemesis of FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder. Although his name is revealed to purportedly be C.G.B...
. Scully then travels to Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
to unravel the secrets of the alien artifacts, finding something that looks like a buried spaceship
Spacecraft
A spacecraft or spaceship is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and transportation of humans and cargo....
buried on the Ivory Coast. The object may prove that life originated elsewhere, and all religion is based on the Navajo contact with alien life. Unsuccessful, Scully returns from Africa to revisit Mulder in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, but instead she finds out that he has disappeared. She contacts Kritschgau and Skinner (who is forced into betrayal by Alex Krycek
Alex Krycek
Alex Krycek is a fictional character in the long-running American science fiction show, The X-Files portrayed by Nicholas Lea. Initially introduced in the second season as a partner for main character Fox Mulder in the absence of his previous partner, Dana Scully, Krycek grew to become one of the...
) to find her partner. The Cigarette Smoking Man has taken Mulder to a place where all his problems seem to have disappeared. Fowley helps Scully locate Mulder, which leads to her death at the hands of the Cigarette Smoking Man.
While investigating a bizarre disappearance of a young girl from her home, Mulder becomes obsessed with the number of children who have vanished in similar circumstances. Scully fears that he is emotionally involved due to his sister’s disappearance. At the same time it is revealed to him that his mother, Teena Mulder, committed suicide. He then tries to prove that his mother did not take her own life, but is ultimately forced to accept that his mother's death was by her own hand. He is led by a man whose son disappeared years earlier to another truth - that his sister may be among the souls taken by "walk-ins", saving the souls of children doomed to live unhappy lives. Together they locate evidence that proves that Samantha was abducted by the Cigarette Smoking Man, and was forced to live in a now abandoned US Army base. It is later revealed that Samantha had become a "walk-in" spirit.
After a young boy with cancer (whose parents refuse medical treatment because it opposes God's will) recovers miraculously, Scully is intrigued. What she soon discovers is that his cure is not miraculous, but scientific - the work of the Cigarette Smoking Man. Eager, if wary, to learn of the truth behind his secrets, Scully agrees to travel with him to acquire the cure to all mankind's diseases - but is forbidden to tell Mulder. Scully is met by a man named only as the "Cobra" who is willing to give her the cure, but is instead shot dead by the Black-Haired Man. Mulder is then able to contact Scully, but is too late as the Cigarette Smoking Man has destroyed the cure and all evidence of it.
Mulder and Scully investigate a case which leads them back to Oregon, as in the pilot episode. With a series of Alien abductions taking place, Mulder and Scully are contacted by Billy Miles. Scully falls ill during the investigation and returns to Washington, D.C. The Cigarette Smoking Man contacts Marita Covarrubias and Krycek (after having him incarcerated in a Tunisian prison), in an attempt to revive the government conspiracy. With Covarrubias unwilling to assist, and Krycek seeking revenge, they contact Mulder after he visits an alien crash site. Skinner and Mulder return to Oregon, while Scully is hospitalized in Washington, D.C. Mulder becomes trapped by an alien device, and is abducted by an Alien Bounty Hunter together with Miles and several others. Skinner returns to Washington, D.C. where Scully informs him that she is pregnant.
Season 8
Scully meets John DoggettJohn Doggett
FBI Special agent John Jay Doggett is a fictional character in the American Fox television series The X-Files, a science fiction show about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of alien existence...
(Robert Patrick
Robert Patrick
Robert Hammond Patrick, Jr. is an American actor, known for his leading and supporting roles in a number of films and television shows....
), the leader of an FBI
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
taskforce organized to conduct a search for Mulder. Although the search ultimately proves unsuccessful, Doggett is assigned to the X-file
X-file
On the television series The X-Files, an X-File is a fictional case that has been deemed unsolvable by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The files constitute an unassigned project outside the Bureau mainstream that is more or less concerned with unexplained phenomena. -First X-Files:The very...
s and works with Scully to look for explanations to several cases. When Scully learns that several women have reportedly been abducted and impregnated with alien babies, she begins to question her own pregnancy
Pregnancy
Pregnancy refers to the fertilization and development of one or more offspring, known as a fetus or embryo, in a woman's uterus. In a pregnancy, there can be multiple gestations, as in the case of twins or triplets...
and fears for her unborn child.
Doggett introduces Scully to Monica Reyes
Monica Reyes
Special Agent Monica Reyes is a fictional character in the American FOX television series The X-Files, a science fiction show about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence...
(Annabeth Gish
Annabeth Gish
Annabeth Gish is an American actress known for starring roles in Shag, Mystic Pizza and Double Jeopardy. She is best known for her roles as Special Agent Monica Reyes on The X-Files, Elizabeth Bartlet Westin on The West Wing and as Eileen Caffee on the Showtime drama Brotherhood.-Personal...
), an FBI specialist in ritualistic crime, shortly before Mulder's deceased body suddenly appears in a forest at night. Following Mulder's funeral, Skinner is threatened by Krycek that he must kill Scully's baby before it is born. Miles, a multiple abductee who disappeared on the same night as Mulder, is returned deceased but his dead body is resurrected and restored to full health. Mulder also returns from death, with Scully supervising his recovery. Fully rejuvenated, Mulder investigates several X-files, against orders to do so, but soon gets fired, leaving Doggett in charge of the cases. Mulder continues to provide input on an unofficial capacity. With Scully on maternity leave, Doggett is assigned a new partner, an inexperienced agent who is obsessed with the X-files, but the relationship is only temporary.
Reluctantly accepting Krycek's assistance, Mulder, Doggett and Skinner learn that an alien virus recently created in secret by members of the United States government has replaced several humans, including Miles and several high-ranking FBI personnel, with so-called alien "Super Soldiers". Krycek claims that the soldiers are virtually unstoppable aliens who want to make sure that humans will not survive the colonization of Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
. They have learned that Scully's baby is a miraculously special child and are afraid that it may be greater than them. They have only recently learned of the baby's importance, which is why Krycek told Skinner to kill the unborn child earlier. When Miles arrives at the FBI Headquarters, Mulder, Doggett, Skinner and Krycek help Scully to escape with Special Agent Reyes who drives her to a remote farm. Shortly after Skinner kills Krycek, Scully delivers an apparently normal baby while the alien supersoldiers surround her. Without explanation, the aliens leave the area as Mulder arrives. While Doggett and Reyes report to the FBI Headquarters, Mulder takes Scully and her newborn baby back to her apartment.
Season 9
After the events of the season eight finale, Mulder goes into hiding. Scully is again re-assigned to the FBI AcademyFBI Academy
The FBI Academy, located in Quantico, Virginia, is the training site for new Special Agents of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was first opened for use in 1972 on 385 acres of woodland. It is a relatively small government academy, housing three dormitory buildings and...
and Reyes becomes Doggett's new FBI partner at the X-Files office
X-file
On the television series The X-Files, an X-File is a fictional case that has been deemed unsolvable by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The files constitute an unassigned project outside the Bureau mainstream that is more or less concerned with unexplained phenomena. -First X-Files:The very...
. Doggett asks Scully for help on a case involving an EPA official who died after his car was forced off a bridge by a woman he picked up. The unknown woman's identity is later found out, Shannon McMahon, being one of Doggett's former Marine associates. She reveals to Doggett that she is a "Super Soldier". This leads them to a clandestine laboratory where a secret experiment is taking place on board on a naval ship. They later find connections with the experiments on the ship to Scully's child, William
Hopeful about reuniting with Mulder, a complete stranger offers his service to drive Mulder out of hiding. Scully takes the offer, but unknowingly gets herself and Mulder in even more danger. The "Shadow Man", a government agent
Syndicate
A syndicate is a self-organizing group of individuals, companies or entities formed to transact some specific business, or to promote a common interest or in the case of criminals, to engage in organized crime...
follows Scully. It is then known that he is a "Super Soldier" bent on killing Scully and Mulder. As confirmed in this episode, a "Super Soldiers" only weakness is magnetite
Magnetite
Magnetite is a ferrimagnetic mineral with chemical formula Fe3O4, one of several iron oxides and a member of the spinel group. The chemical IUPAC name is iron oxide and the common chemical name is ferrous-ferric oxide. The formula for magnetite may also be written as FeO·Fe2O3, which is one part...
, which leads to the death of the "Shadow Man". Later on, Scully, Doggett and Reyes find evidence of a dangerous UFO cult which has found a second spacecraft similar to one Scully studied in Africa two years ago (as seen in "The Sixth Extinction
The Sixth Extinction
"The Sixth Extinction" is the first episode of the seventh season of the science fiction television series The X-Files. In "The Sixth Extinction" Assistant Director Skinner tries to discover what is wrong with Mulder while Scully investigates the mysterious alien artifact on the African coastline.-...
"). Misled by the FBI, the agents enlist the help of The Lone Gunmen
The Lone Gunmen
The Lone Gunmen are a trio of fictional characters, Richard "Ringo" Langly, Melvin Frohike and John Fitzgerald Byers, who have recurring roles on the American television series The X-Files. They also starred in a short-lived spin-off, also called The Lone Gunmen. The name was derived from the lone...
to protect Scully's son after they learn that the UFO cult apparently intend to kill the child. Doggett's gets run over by a car, leading him to be sent to the local hospital. As Brad Follmer
Brad Follmer
FBI Assistant Director Brad D. Follmer is a fictional character in the American Fox television series The X-Files, a science fiction series about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence. Follmer was introduced during the last season of the show, as an ex-lover to main...
(Cary Elwes
Cary Elwes
Ivan Simon Cary Elwes , known professionally as Cary Elwes, is an English actor. The son of Dominick Elwes and Tessa Georgina Kennedy, Elwes acted in off-Broadway plays during college and moved to the United States in the early 1980s. He is known for his role as Westley in the cult classic The...
) and the Toothpick Man (Alan Dale
Alan Dale
Alan Hugh Dale is a New Zealand actor. As a child, Dale developed a love of theatre and also became a rugby player. After retiring from the sport he took on a number of professions to support his family, before deciding to become a professional actor at the age of 27. With work limited in New...
) are trying to uncover the plans of the three agents, Scully and Reyes leaves Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
to find Scully's son.
Doggett finds a strange disfigured man in the X-Files office; believing he is Mulder, they test his DNA. The DNA test reveals him to have the same DNA pattern as Mulder. The disfigured man sticks a needle into William, which the other agents believe to be a virus of somekind. But is later revealed to be a cure for William's powers. The unnamed man is later revealed to be Jeffrey Spender
Jeffrey Spender
FBI Special agent Jeffrey Frank Spender is a fictional character in the American Fox television series The X-Files, a science fiction show about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of alien existence. Spender was in control of the X-Files office after Fox Mulder's and Dana Scully's...
(Chris Owens
Chris Owens (actor)
Christopher Bradley "Chris" Owens is a Canadian actor.Owens was born in Toronto, the son of Jeannette, a jazz singer, and Garry Owens, a jazz drummer....
), Mulder's half-brother. Mulder returns from hiding to only be discovered looking for classified information at an army base and, after allegedly killing an apparently indestructible "Super Soldier", he is placed on trial to defend the X-files
X-file
On the television series The X-Files, an X-File is a fictional case that has been deemed unsolvable by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The files constitute an unassigned project outside the Bureau mainstream that is more or less concerned with unexplained phenomena. -First X-Files:The very...
and himself. But with the help of Kersh, Scully, Reyes, Doggett, Spender, Marita Covarrubias (Laurie Holden
Laurie Holden
Heather Laurie Holden is an American-Canadian actress and human rights activist. She is perhaps best known for her roles as Marita Covarrubias in The X-Files, Adele Stanton on The Majestic, Cybil Bennett in Silent Hill, Amanda Dumfries in The Mist, Olivia Murray in The Shield, and Andrea in The...
) and Gibson Praise, Mulder breaks out. Mulder and Scully travels to New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
to find an old "wise man", who is later revealed to be the Cigarette Smoking Man
Cigarette Smoking Man
The Smoking Man is a fictional character and the antagonist on the American science fiction television series The X-Files. He serves as the arch-nemesis of FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder. Although his name is revealed to purportedly be C.G.B...
(William B. Davis
William B. Davis
William Bruce Davis is a Canadian actor, known for his role as The Smoking Man on The X-Files. He has also appeared in Stargate SG-1 as Damaris, a Prior of the Ori and as Mayor Tate on Smallville...
). The Smoking Man is later killed by commands from Knowle Rohrer (Adam Baldwin
Adam Baldwin
Adam Baldwin is an American actor, known for his roles as Animal Mother in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket, Ricky Linderman in My Bodyguard, Knowle Rohrer in The X-Files, and Marcus Hamilton in Joss Whedon's Angel...
).
Conception and early work
At the beginning, Chris CarterChris Carter (screenwriter)
Christopher Carl Carter is an American screenwriter, film director and producer. He is the creator of The X-Files and Millennium.- Ten Thirteen Productions :...
did not think of creating a "mythology" for the episodes focusing on extraterrestrial life, because "they were just stories we wanted to tell," which involved Fox Mulder
Fox Mulder
FBI Special Agent Fox William Mulder is a fictional character and protagonist in the American Fox television shows The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, two science fiction shows about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence. Mulder's peers consider his theories on...
(David Duchovny
David Duchovny
David William Duchovny is an American actor, writer and director. He has won Golden Globe awards for his work as FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder on The X-Files and as Hank Moody on Californication.-Early life:...
) on his personal quest joined in with his partner, Dana Scully
Dana Scully
FBI Special Agent Dana Katherine Scully, M.D. is a fictional character and protagonist on the Fox television series The X-Files , played by Gillian Anderson. She also appeared in two theatrical films based on the series...
(Gillian Anderson
Gillian Anderson
Gillian Leigh Anderson is an American actress.After beginning her career in theatre, Anderson achieved international recognition for her role as Special Agent Dana Scully on the American television series The X-Files. During the show's nine seasons, Anderson won Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen...
). Eventually, the writers saw that the most "personal" episodes were the ones centering on the government conspiracy. Another reason for the development of the mythology, was that the producers were afraid of not creating a thread between the episodes centering around the conspiracy, being that they felt it would be pretentious if they did not do it.
According to Carter, the mythology "sprung from" the pilot episode and its follow up, "Deep Throat", which set up the idea that aliens had been around for many years. Carter sees the final scene of "Deep Throat" as the "launching moment for the entire mythology". The main theme for the show starts with these episodes, being Mulder's quest to find "the truth" about his sister, Samantha Mulder
Samantha Mulder
Samantha Ann Mulder is a fictional character in the television series The X-Files. She is the sister of FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder and the daughter of Teena and Bill Mulder. As a child, Samantha was abducted, ostensibly by aliens, and was never recovered...
. Mulder's quest for the truth helped build the mythology, since his investigation took him into cases about the paranormal
Paranormal
Paranormal is a general term that designates experiences that lie outside "the range of normal experience or scientific explanation" or that indicates phenomena understood to be outside of science's current ability to explain or measure...
.
After a series of stand-alone episodes featuring UFOs and extraterrestrials
Colonist (The X-Files)
The Colonists are an extraterrestrial species in the science fiction television show, The X-Files, as well as the first X-Files feature film. The mystery revolving around their identity and purpose is revealed across the course of the series...
early in the first season
The X-Files (season 1)
The first season of the science fiction television series The X-Files commenced airing on the Fox network in the United States on September 10, 1993 and concluded on the same channel on May 13, 1994 after airing all 24 episodes....
, the show's mythology
Story arc
A story arc is an extended or continuing storyline in episodic storytelling media such as television, comic books, comic strips, boardgames, video games, and in some cases, films. On a television program, for example, the story would unfold over many episodes. In television, the use of the story...
developed largely based on the pregnancy of actress Gillian Anderson
Gillian Anderson
Gillian Leigh Anderson is an American actress.After beginning her career in theatre, Anderson achieved international recognition for her role as Special Agent Dana Scully on the American television series The X-Files. During the show's nine seasons, Anderson won Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen...
, who became pregnant midway through the first season. Executive producer Frank Spotnitz
Frank Spotnitz
Frank Spotnitz is an award-winning American television writer and producer, best known for his work on The X-Files television series.-Biography:...
described it as "the best thing that ever happened to the series.", also saying "This mythology really ended up running through the life of the series, all because Gillian Anderson became pregnant". Although there were initially thoughts about Scully (Anderson) giving birth to an alien baby, ultimately the writers decided to work around Anderson's pregnancy. The writers decided on closing the X-Files
X-file
On the television series The X-Files, an X-File is a fictional case that has been deemed unsolvable by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The files constitute an unassigned project outside the Bureau mainstream that is more or less concerned with unexplained phenomena. -First X-Files:The very...
at the end of the season to separate Mulder and Scully from one another, and have Scully abducted, who would later reappear in a coma. In addition to the creation of the storyline concerning Scully's abduction, Anderson's reduced role in the first half of the second season permitted the writers to develop some of the other characters in the show including Assistant Director Walter Skinner
Walter Skinner
FBI Assistant Director Walter Sergei Skinner is a fictional character in the American FOX television shows The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, two science fiction shows about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence...
(Mitch Pileggi
Mitch Pileggi
Mitchell Craig "Mitch" Pileggi is an American actor. Pileggi is known for playing FBI assistant director Walter Skinner on the long-running popular series The X-Files. He also had a recurring role on Stargate Atlantis as Col. Steven Caldwell...
), The Smoking Man (William B. Davis
William B. Davis
William Bruce Davis is a Canadian actor, known for his role as The Smoking Man on The X-Files. He has also appeared in Stargate SG-1 as Damaris, a Prior of the Ori and as Mayor Tate on Smallville...
) and X (Steven Williams
Steven Williams
Steven Williams is an American actor of films and television.Williams was born in Memphis, Tennessee and raised in Chicago. He is known for his role as Captain Adam Fuller on the Fox Network's hit TV series 21 Jump Street from 1987-91.He played Lt. Burnett on the CBS drama series The Equalizer in...
), and resulted in the introduction of the character Alex Krycek
Alex Krycek
Alex Krycek is a fictional character in the long-running American science fiction show, The X-Files portrayed by Nicholas Lea. Initially introduced in the second season as a partner for main character Fox Mulder in the absence of his previous partner, Dana Scully, Krycek grew to become one of the...
(Nicholas Lea
Nicholas Lea
Nicholas Lea is a Canadian actor best known for his portrayal of Alex Krycek on The X-Files and on Kyle XY playing Tom Foss.-Biography:...
). Krycek, who was initially created by writer Howard Gordon
Howard Gordon
Howard Gordon is an American screenwriter and producer.-Life and career:Gordon was born in Queens, New York, New York. After graduating from Princeton in 1984, Gordon came to Los Angeles with fellow filmmaker Alex Gansa to pursue a career in writing for television. Both broke into the industry...
to temporarily replace Scully as Mulder's partner for three episodes eventually grew into a character that lasted seven seasons on the show.
Creation of mythology characters
The X-Files (season 2)
The second season of the science fiction television series The X-Files commenced airing on Fox in the United States on September 16, 1994, concluded on the same channel on May 19, 1995, and contained 25 episodes.- Production :...
episode, "One Breath
One Breath
"One Breath" is the eighth episode of the second season of the science fiction television series The X-Files created by Chris Carter. This episode features the return of Scully from her abduction in a coma-like state.- Plot :...
" the "Cigarette Smoking Man
Cigarette Smoking Man
The Smoking Man is a fictional character and the antagonist on the American science fiction television series The X-Files. He serves as the arch-nemesis of FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder. Although his name is revealed to purportedly be C.G.B...
" mostly "lurked around in the shadows" and smoked cigarettes. The Smoking Man uttered only four audible words in the entire first season
The X-Files (season 1)
The first season of the science fiction television series The X-Files commenced airing on the Fox network in the United States on September 10, 1993 and concluded on the same channel on May 13, 1994 after airing all 24 episodes....
of the show, all of them being in "Tooms
Tooms
"Tooms" is the twenty-first episode of the first season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. It premiered on the Fox network on April 22, 1994. "Tooms" was written by Glen Morgan and James Wong, and directed by David Nutter. The episode featured Mitch Pileggi's first...
". R.W. Goodwin did not trust William B. Davis
William B. Davis
William Bruce Davis is a Canadian actor, known for his role as The Smoking Man on The X-Files. He has also appeared in Stargate SG-1 as Damaris, a Prior of the Ori and as Mayor Tate on Smallville...
to take on the part as arch-nemesis to Fox Mulder
Fox Mulder
FBI Special Agent Fox William Mulder is a fictional character and protagonist in the American Fox television shows The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, two science fiction shows about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence. Mulder's peers consider his theories on...
. It was later revealed to the producers that Davis was running an acting school, and teaching such actors as Lucy Lawless
Lucy Lawless
Lucy Lawless, MNZM is a New Zealander actress and singer best known for playing the title character of the internationally successful television series Xena: Warrior Princess....
, who would make an appearance in the ninth season
The X-Files (season 9)
The ninth season of The X-Files commenced airing in the United States on November 11, 2001, concluded on May 19, 2002, and consists of twenty episodes. The X-Files is an American serial science fiction-horror-thriller television series. Season nine took place after Fox Mulder's leave after the...
.
In the two-part episode
Story arc
A story arc is an extended or continuing storyline in episodic storytelling media such as television, comic books, comic strips, boardgames, video games, and in some cases, films. On a television program, for example, the story would unfold over many episodes. In television, the use of the story...
s "Colony
Colony (The X-Files)
"Colony" is the sixteenth episode of the second season of the science fiction television series The X-Files. "Colony" concerns Mulder and Scully's investigation of the murders of doctors with identical appearances and the reappearance of Mulder's sister Samantha.- Plot :The episode opens in medias...
" and "End Game
End Game (The X-Files)
"End Game" is the seventeenth episode of the second season of the science fiction television series The X-Files. "End Game" continues from the previous episode "Colony", and includes Mulder's pursuit and confrontation with the Alien Bounty Hunter who has captured Scully.- Plot :USS Allegiance, a...
", Chris Carter
Chris Carter (screenwriter)
Christopher Carl Carter is an American screenwriter, film director and producer. He is the creator of The X-Files and Millennium.- Ten Thirteen Productions :...
and Frank Spotnitz
Frank Spotnitz
Frank Spotnitz is an award-winning American television writer and producer, best known for his work on The X-Files television series.-Biography:...
along with some help from David Duchovny
David Duchovny
David William Duchovny is an American actor, writer and director. He has won Golden Globe awards for his work as FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder on The X-Files and as Hank Moody on Californication.-Early life:...
created what would become a recurring character
Recurring character
A recurring character is a fictional character, usually in a prime time TV series, who appears from time to time during the series' run. Recurring characters often play major roles in an episode, sometimes being the main focus...
named the Alien Bounty Hunter. According to Carter, Duchovny came to him and said "it be great if we had like an alien bounty hunter?" Carter was positive towards the idea. The actor, Brian Thompson
Brian Thompson (actor)
Brian Thompson is an American actor. His distinctive square-jaw profile, powerful voice, and imposing stature has led him to be typecast as a villain in many action films and TV series, and a some comedies: Joe Dirt, The Three Amigos, Weird Science, Key West, and Life Stinks.-Career:Thompson has...
, audition
Audition
An audition is a sample performance by an actor, singer, musician, dancer or other performing artist.Audition may also refer to:* The sense of hearing* Adobe Audition, audio editing software...
ed for the role in a casting session, where he was competing with another actor. Spotnitz and Carter had not much time to cast this character, but they knew this casting would be important since they intended the character to become a recurring character
Recurring character
A recurring character is a fictional character, usually in a prime time TV series, who appears from time to time during the series' run. Recurring characters often play major roles in an episode, sometimes being the main focus...
. Thompson was chosen according to Spotnitz because he had a very "distinctive look" about him, most notably his face and mouth. After casting him, they told Thompson's agent that he needed a hair cut, because he was originally envisioned as a US Air Force pilot who'd been shot down. When Thompson came to Vancouver, Canada there had been some "misunderstanding" between them, and he hadn't been told of the hair cut. So the hairstyle seen in this and every episode since was a "compromise
Compromise
To compromise is to make a deal where one person gives up part of his or her demand.In arguments, compromise is a concept of finding agreement through communication, through a mutual acceptance of terms—often involving variations from an original goal or desire.Extremism is often considered as...
between Thompson and the producers.
Mythology development: season 3-5
Chris CarterChris Carter (screenwriter)
Christopher Carl Carter is an American screenwriter, film director and producer. He is the creator of The X-Files and Millennium.- Ten Thirteen Productions :...
admits that David Duchovny
David Duchovny
David William Duchovny is an American actor, writer and director. He has won Golden Globe awards for his work as FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder on The X-Files and as Hank Moody on Californication.-Early life:...
was very involved in shaping the show's mythology. His first notable efforts were "End Game
End Game (The X-Files)
"End Game" is the seventeenth episode of the second season of the science fiction television series The X-Files. "End Game" continues from the previous episode "Colony", and includes Mulder's pursuit and confrontation with the Alien Bounty Hunter who has captured Scully.- Plot :USS Allegiance, a...
" and "Anasazi
Anasazi (The X-Files)
"Anasazi" is the twenty-fifth episode and the second season finale of The X-Files television series. "Anasazi" revolves around Mulder coming into possession of a digital tape that contains confidential government information about aliens.- Plot :...
". After writing the episode, Carter met up with a man who watched over the show by the Fox Network. He wanted the show to explain the paranormal phenomena in each episode. Carter responded with: "the interesting part about this for me was going to be telling stories where you left people wondering at the end, with the possibility that it could be real, but never ever stating that this is in fact the truth." "Anasazi" was the first episode of a three-parter where the writers introduced the government conspiracy arc following the Syndicate
Syndicate (The X-Files)
The Syndicate is a fictional "shadow government" group featured in The X-Files television show and feature film created by Chris Carter. They were also known as The Elders, The Consortium, and The Group...
. "Paper Clip
Paper Clip
"Paper Clip" is a 1995 episode of The X-Files television series. It was the second episode broadcast in the show's third season. Paper Clip concludes the story regarding the agents' possession of a digital tape containing government secrets on extraterrestrials.- Plot :Continuing from the previous...
" introduced the idea of genetic material that was taken through inoculations.
At the end of season two
The X-Files (season 2)
The second season of the science fiction television series The X-Files commenced airing on Fox in the United States on September 16, 1994, concluded on the same channel on May 19, 1995, and contained 25 episodes.- Production :...
the Black oil
Black Oil
Black Oil may refer to:* Black Oil , an alien virus in the X-Files episode The Colonist* a sunflower variety...
was introduced, which was an alien creature which invaded bodies and made them into living hosts. The Black oil was able to enter through a victim's mouth, eyes or nose; it would leave a victim's body to get back to its original form or get a new host. Later on in the show's mythology, it is discovered that the Black oil is the Colonist
Colonist (The X-Files)
The Colonists are an extraterrestrial species in the science fiction television show, The X-Files, as well as the first X-Files feature film. The mystery revolving around their identity and purpose is revealed across the course of the series...
s' lifeform; the oil was brought to Earth by meteorites to create hosts of the human population living there. The season four
The X-Files (season 4)
-Episodes:Episodes marked with an asterisk are broadly part of the series' mytharc. Episodes with a double asterisk are primary episodes in the series' Alien Mythology arc....
two-parters "Tunguska
Tunguska (The X-Files)
"Tunguska" is a 1996 episode of The X-Files television series. It was the eighth episode broadcast in the show's fourth season. "Tunguska" was the first of a two part episode featuring the return of Alex Krycek and the agents coming into possession of a Martian rock containing alien life...
" and "Terma" hit the writers when they were trying to conceive a big and fun canvas to tell stories. So they decided to create a story which had connections to the Russian gulags
Gulag
The Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...
, which led to a "natural" idea that the Russians were experimenting separately from the Syndicate to create a vaccine for the Black oil. Shiban felt it was natural creating an arms race-like story between the United States and Russia, being that the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
had ended a few years earlier.
With the season five episodes "Patient X" and "The Red and the Black
The Red and the Black (The X-Files)
"The Red and the Black" is a 1998 episode of The X-Files television series. It was the fourteenth episode broadcast in the show's fifth season...
", the mythology became too hard for some viewers to follow. These two episodes marked the introduction of the Alien rebels who were fighting against the Colonists for their plan to colonize the known universe. These Alien rebels were of the same race as the Alien Bounty Hunters. Cassandra (Veronica Cartwright
Veronica Cartwright
Veronica A. Cartwright is an English-born American actress who has worked mainly in American film and television. She is best known for her role of Lambert in Alien, for which she won a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress....
) and Jeffrey Spender
Jeffrey Spender
FBI Special agent Jeffrey Frank Spender is a fictional character in the American Fox television series The X-Files, a science fiction show about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of alien existence. Spender was in control of the X-Files office after Fox Mulder's and Dana Scully's...
(Chris Owens
Chris Owens (actor)
Christopher Bradley "Chris" Owens is a Canadian actor.Owens was born in Toronto, the son of Jeannette, a jazz singer, and Garry Owens, a jazz drummer....
) would make their first appearances in these two episodes. Two other characters, Diana Fowley (Mimi Rogers
Mimi Rogers
Mimi Rogers is an American movie actress and competitive poker player.-Early life:Rogers was born Miriam Spickler in Coral Gables, Florida, the daughter of Philip C...
) and Gibson Praise (Jeff Gulka) were introduced to the series mythology in the season five finale, "The End
The End (The X-Files)
"The End" is the 20th episode of the fifth season, and 117th overall of the science fiction television series The X-Files. The episode first aired in the United States and Canada on May 17, 1998. "The End" subsequently aired in the United Kingdom, Ireland and was eventually released for broadcast...
".
Season eight and "The New X-Files"
The season eight premiere, "WithinWithin (The X-Files)
"Within" is the 162nd episode and the season 8 premiere of the science fiction television series The X-Files. The episode first aired in the United States on November 5, 2000 on the Fox Network, and subsequently aired in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It was written by executive producer Chris...
", started the storyline following the Super Soldiers and the search for Mulder. As Carter always believed the only way to get the audience to keep watching the show was to give them answers. So when they casted Robert Patrick
Robert Patrick
Robert Hammond Patrick, Jr. is an American actor, known for his leading and supporting roles in a number of films and television shows....
as John Doggett
John Doggett
FBI Special agent John Jay Doggett is a fictional character in the American Fox television series The X-Files, a science fiction show about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of alien existence...
a new lead character, since Duchovny had sued the Fox Network and Carter for more money, while wanting to leave, the court said he must appear in 12 episodes in the eighth season and then leave. When introducing Doggett into the series, they wanted to give him an enemy, this eventually led to the Super Soldiers, who rose up in "Within" to take on the role as the new government conspirators. The reason for creating a new enemy was to make sure not to just create a "new Mulder". The original idea for the Super Soldiers was that the United States Defense Department was developing genetically modified human beings, this was the non-alien explanation, while these characters eventually became the new aliens. Dana Scully
Dana Scully
FBI Special Agent Dana Katherine Scully, M.D. is a fictional character and protagonist on the Fox television series The X-Files , played by Gillian Anderson. She also appeared in two theatrical films based on the series...
took Mulder's role as a "believer" and handed her previous role as a "skeptic" to Doggett.
Carter himself has admitted that the mythology became "complex" and a bit "too difficult to" follow, and even more difficult for the writers to "add more layers on to it". While saying it got "more interesting" in some ways but at the same time less interesting in some other ways, he said he understood why long-time fans of the show were discontent at seeing a "Mulderless" season, but at the same time said the new characters introduced new fans to the show who reacted positively to the changes.
Annabeth Gish
Annabeth Gish
Annabeth Gish is an American actress known for starring roles in Shag, Mystic Pizza and Double Jeopardy. She is best known for her roles as Special Agent Monica Reyes on The X-Files, Elizabeth Bartlet Westin on The West Wing and as Eileen Caffee on the Showtime drama Brotherhood.-Personal...
's character Monica Reyes
Monica Reyes
Special Agent Monica Reyes is a fictional character in the American FOX television series The X-Files, a science fiction show about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence...
, who would become a main character in season nine
The X-Files (season 9)
The ninth season of The X-Files commenced airing in the United States on November 11, 2001, concluded on May 19, 2002, and consists of twenty episodes. The X-Files is an American serial science fiction-horror-thriller television series. Season nine took place after Fox Mulder's leave after the...
, made her first appearance in "This Is Not Happening
This Is Not Happening
"This Is Not Happening" is the 175th episode and the fourteenth episode of the eighth season of the science fiction television series The X-Files. The episode first aired in the United States and Canada on February 25, 2001 on the Fox Network, and subsequently aired in the United Kingdom...
". When creating the character for the episode, they wanted to give the character a personality who had much in common with both Mulder and Scully. Her first shot was four in the morning, her first scene in the episode was to run down a hill to discover a former abductee. The character along with Skinner be moved up to main character status in the ninth season
The X-Files (season 9)
The ninth season of The X-Files commenced airing in the United States on November 11, 2001, concluded on May 19, 2002, and consists of twenty episodes. The X-Files is an American serial science fiction-horror-thriller television series. Season nine took place after Fox Mulder's leave after the...
.
The original plan for season nine was to exit both Mulder, Scully and baby William out of the storyline in the following season. Season 10 would follow a storyline where the aliens were not the central focus of the mythology, since many of the writers, most notably Frank Spotnitz
Frank Spotnitz
Frank Spotnitz is an award-winning American television writer and producer, best known for his work on The X-Files television series.-Biography:...
felt that the alien-conspiracy storyline had gone on long enough "and played itself out." Season 10 would focus on what happened to Doggett's son, Luke, and the character of Reyes.
External links
- EatTheCorn - a site dedicated to explaining the mythology of The X-Files
- http://www.xfiles.com/
- http://www.xfilesnews.com/