The X-Files was one of the most impactful TV series of the 1990s, and shows ranging from Fringe to Supernatural to even Bones likely never would have happened if not for The X-Files bringing the paranormal into pop culture. Some of the original nine seasons were better than others, and some episodes are definitely best forgotten, but The X-Files overall was always a show that was just really, really good when it was good. Did fans have to develop high tolerances for ambiguous dialogue, unanswered questions, and an epic love story mostly expressed via forehead touches and poorly-lit embraces? Sure. But it was worth it.
The 2016 revival gave The X-Files the chance to answer some of those long-unanswered questions and provide some closure. Unfortunately, big aspects of the mythology only got more confusing in Season 10. The truth is still out there; we just haven't gotten to it yet. Now that Fox has officially ordered Season 11 of The X-Files, I want to believe that we'll finally get answers to some of the questions still lingering after Season 10. Read on for our biggest and most burning X-Files questions!
What Happened To The Alien Colonization Plan?
The mythology of The X-Files was pretty convoluted by the end of its original run on Fox, but the big thing that the show was very clear on was that the aliens who had been vexing Mulder and Scully for the better part of a decade were moving forward with their plan to colonize the planet. In fact, the aliens even had a date set for kicking off the colonization: December 22, 2012. It was a culmination of a plot that had been building over nine TV seasons and one feature film.
Obviously, the alien colonization and repopulation never happened in 2012, and Mulder would come to the conclusion in the revival series that the entire plot was an incredibly elaborate ruse orchestrated by a group of government men to cover up their intentions to do harm to the civilian population. Given all that we saw over the first nine years of the show and the Fight the Future movie, it's pretty hard to believe that the entire colonization arc was one grand series of red herrings, and so the question remains: what happened that December 22, 2012 passed without any aliens coming to colonize?
Why Wasn't Mulder Immune To The Spartan Virus?
The Season 10 finale split Mulder and Scully apart so that Mulder could face off against the Cigarette-Smoking Man and Scully could work her science magic as thousands of people began to get sick due to the Spartan Virus. Thanks to some helpful exposition courtesy of CSM and Monica Reyes, we learned that only those humans with alien DNA in their systems would be spared the effects of Spartan. Scully, due to all the experimentation she underwent during her years on the X-Files, had the alien DNA and was able to synthesize a vaccine from her blood.
Logically, Mulder should have been able to survive Spartan without any treatment from Scully. He had alien DNA himself, which was a major plot point as of the end of Season 6. Mulder's immune system should have been fine and we wouldn't have ended the Season 10 finale with him circling the drain in the middle of a traffic jam, so now we have to wonder: Why wasn't Mulder immune? At least the renewal for Season 11 means that we don't have to wonder if he'll be killed off from the effects of Spartan.
What's Going On With William?
Oh, William. You were an adorable little mystery from the very beginning. How were you conceived when Scully didn't have any ova left and the IVF failed? When were you conceived? Why did Season 8 literally never make it entirely clear who your father was? How did magnetite fix you from becoming a huge factor in potential alien colonization? These are all questions that we'll probably never get definitive answers to, and that's okay at this point. What won't be okay is if we never find out what has happened to William in the 15 or so years since Scully put him up for adoption.
Season 10 showed that both Mulder and Scully were both more affected by losing him from their lives than it seemed at first, as both seemed to wonder what their lives would have been like if they'd gotten to raise him. We had hints and nods and mentions of the kid, but no real updates on what happened to him. Then, in the season finale, Scully came to the conclusion that the only way Mulder could survive Spartan is with stem cells from their son, which... I guess makes sense. Given the way Season 10 ended, we really need the find out what is going on with William.
Who's In The Spaceship?
The Season 10 finale ended on a cliffhanger that would have been absolutely infuriating if we didn't get a Season 11 to reveal what happens next. Chaos was spreading, Mulder was dying, Agent Miller was getting the abridged history of Mulder and Scully's relationship... and then, a spaceship appeared and shone a light directly down onto Scully as she stood on a bridge and presumably thought "Oh, not again!" to herself.
Sadly, we never found out who or what was in the ship. Was it aliens who were arriving in 2016 rather than 2012 to kick off their colonization? Or was it aliens who were coming to save the day and stop the men who had created the circumstances for Spartan? Was it William, who Scully had just mentioned moments before? Or was it government men in an alien replica vehicle built based on the designs of a genuine crashed spaceship? Who is in the spaceship?
Luckily, this is one question that will almost certainly be answered in Season 11, assuming it picks up right where Season 10 left off. As for the other questions... well, I want to believe that we'll get our answers when The X-Files returns in the 2017-2018 TV season on Fox. Check out our midseason TV premiere guide and our summer TV premiere schedule to discover all your viewing options while you wait for more X-Files, and don't forget to drop by our rundowns of cable/streaming and broadcast TV renewals and cancellations.
