Get Ready for More Mulder and Scully: 'The X-Files' Is Coming Back
We wanted to believe, and it paid off: The X-Files is coming back to Fox.
The beloved '90s sci-fi series had been rumored to be returning for some time, but not with any specific plans until now. As of Tuesday, Fox is officially bringing it back — with original cast members David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson as investigators Fox Mulder and Dana Scully — for a six-episode limited run, according to The Hollywood Reporter. This new mini-season won't just revisit old times, either. These are brand new stories to be told.
"The good news is the world has only gotten that much stranger" in the time since The X-Files was last on, creator Chris Carter, who will produce the new six episodes, told the Reporter. "[It's] a perfect time to tell these six stories."
After nine seasons and a feature film, Duchovny and Anderson reunited in 2008's The X-Files: I Want to Believe, named for the show's iconic tagline. The movie was modestly successful but critically panned; the new series is the first attempt since 2002 to reunite the team for television.
This is another example of nostalgia-plus. Unlike reboots, which erase a work's continuity and attempt to start from scratch, shows like The X-Files, Disney's Duck Tales, TNT's Dallas, HBO's The Comeback and more add to their existing universes. It's a way to get a nostalgia bump, but also to give fans something more than simply rewriting their experience with new sets and actors.
Often, this involves another network picking up the slack; Netflix has practically made this part of their model after the success of Arrested Development season four, picked up from Fox. The latter network has clearly learned something about how successful a bit of nostalgia-plus can be: They did the same thing with 24's reboot miniseries, Live Another Day.
The new limited season of The X-Files will reportedly shoot this summer, with a release date to be announced.
