The eleventh (and possibly final) season of The X-Files is in full swing on Fox, and a brand new midseason trailer has been released that teases just what we can expect from the upcoming episodes. The new footage indicates that we're in for a combination of Monster of the Week standalones and mythology developments, with plenty of Mulder, Scully, and Skinner to keep things going. Read on for our breakdown of the 10 craziest moments of the X-Files midseason trailer!
An Alien Gets An Autopsy
An alien will be getting sliced and diced in what remains of Season 11. On the one hand, an alien autopsy isn't exactly something that hasn't happened before on The X-Files, and the dated fashion combined with the glimpse of a young man smoking a cigarette hints that this particular autopsy happened long ago. On the other hand, the alien autopsy from the trailer is being aired in a season that is revisiting the possibility of alien DNA having a role in Scully's pregnancy (via the Cigarette-Smoking Man). If William is indeed a hybrid of sorts, this autopsy could be key to explaining how it all started.
Cigarette-Smoking Man Pays Skinner A Visit
The Cigarette-Smoking Man used to frequent Skinner's office back in the early years of the series, but the Skinman seemed to be out from under CSM's thumb for the last few seasons. Unfortunately, his encounter with the Cigarette-Smoking Man in the Season 11 premiere clearly wasn't a one-time thing. In fact, the meeting in Skinner's office indicates that he's in over his head yet again with Old Smoky, and that doesn't bode well for anybody. Will the long-suffering Skinner ever escape bending the rules to help Scully and Mulder?
William Rises From The Dead
The X-Files has given some quick glimpses of William in Season 11, and we've seen enough to know what he looks like. The midseason trailer reveals that William himself will play an important role in at least one future episode, although it also seems to point toward Mulder and Scully only discovering him after his death. Luckily, the end of the trailer shows somebody who can only be William sitting up out of a body bag, very much alive. Unsurprisingly, the trailer doesn't give away how exactly William could have fooled Scully into believing him dead. Perhaps we can take it as proof that William is really Mulder's son. He could have inherited Mulder's penchant for returning from apparent death!
Mulder And Scully Get A Brightly-Lit Kiss
Mulder and Scully have become one of the most iconic pairings in television history. Although creator Chris Carter is on the record that they're actually still platonic after all these years, fans have gotten to see them share a handful of kisses over the past 25 years. (Also, they seem to believe they conceived a kid together the old-fashioned way.) Unfortunately for viewers who are all-in on the Mulder/Scully relationship, many of those kisses have occurred in very, very, very dark scenes. The midseason trailer doesn't show an actual kiss, but surely Scully can only have one destination. So what if they're smooching in a church and aren't likely to get especially passionate? The scene is so brightly-lit!
A Cannibal Makes A Smoothie?
Is there anything more quintessentially X-Files Monster of the Week than this glimpse of a person seemingly making a smoothie out of blood and raw meat?Technically, that raw meat could be any animal or even chunks of some other substance covered in blood. Given that this is The X-Files we're talking about -- e.i., the show that produced an episode about an incestuous family that kills anybody in their way -- the odds are decent that this person is making a smoothie out of people meat. Who says that cannibals can't enjoy smoothies just as much as the rest of us?
A Wild Haley Joel Osment Appears
We've known for a while that Haley Joel Osment was slated to appear in an episode of The X-Files Season 11, and the midseason trailer gives us our first good look at him. Apparently, his character is currently living in a cabin in the middle of the woods and finds cats creepy. Given that the woods seem to be the home of a killer monster, something tells me cats aren't the creepiest thing Mulder and Scully will encounter in this particular episode. Interestingly, another shot from the trailer reveals Haley Joel Osment in full military gear in Vietnam, which likely either means that his character's father fought in Vietnam or his character has aged phenomenally in the past several decades.
Walker Skinner Flashes Back
And here we have our first look at a young Walter Skinner in Vietnam! Fans of The X-Files have known since the original run of the series that the Skinman fought in Vietnam when he was only 18-years-old and he went through an experience that shaped him for the rest of his life, but the show hasn't delivered many details. The Skinner-centric episode of The X-Files will take us back to a time when Skinner had a full head of hair, different glasses, and no idea that he would one day be stuck with two troublesome agents. Since the trailer seems to indicate that the Skinner-centric episode is the same one featuring Haley Joel Osment, the creepy woods monster, and potentially even the raw meat smoothie-lover, we can bet that Skinner's backstory is a lot weirder than any of us ever guessed.
Walter Skinner Killed Somebody... Maybe
The Skinner-centric episode looks to be implicating him in the deaths of at least one person, and local law enforcement has CCTV footage that seems to prove his guilt. Mulder and Scully haven't trusted Skinner for most of Season 11 so far, but they evidently believe that he didn't commit any murders in the woods, and they'll pull out all the stops to help him. No amount of CCTV footage will likely convince them that he's guilty of this particular transgression. Conspiring with the Cigarette-Smoking Man? Sure. Killing people in the woods, not so much.
There's A Bleeping UFO!
For a show largely centered on aliens and a conspiracy to cover them up, The X-Files hasn't given too many good looks at UFOs over the years. Clearly the show will deliver a clear shot of a flying saucer. Considering that this ship looks more like the flying saucer off of Mulder's "I Want To Believe" poster than one of the real spaceships we've seen over the years, it may be a shot from a dream sequence or hallucination out of what promises to be a wacky Darin Morgan episode. Either way, it looks like we're getting some aliens!
Scully Gets A Haircut
At some point in what remains of Season 11, Scully will be getting a haircut. For the first eight years of the show, Scully had more of a bob haircut than anything else. The last couple of seasons have seen her with much longer hair; the trailer indicates that she'll be chopping off a considerable amount of her hair for a look quite reminiscent of that from the original run of the series. The haircut could be a sign of a time jump between episodes of Season 11. Then again, it could also be a sign that the ends of her hair got splashed with cannibal smoothie and she felt the need to chop it off. We'll have to wait and see.
You can catch new episodes of The X-Files on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Fox. For more viewing options, be sure to check out our midseason TV premiere guide. If you're in the mood to rewatch (or watch) the midseason trailer of The X-Files, head on over to the next page!
