Television news in recent months has been something of a reboot-a-palooza, with announcement after announcement of retired shows coming back to the small screen. One of the most exciting, however, is definitely the return of 1990s cultural phenomenon The X-Files to Fox. The legacy of Fox Mulder and Dana Scully’s investigations into the paranormal and extraterrestrial has lasted well into the 21st century. According to series creator Chris Carter, however, the return of The X-Files also comes with plenty of pressure for the folks behind the scenes.
Coming back together, being on the set again was a powerful thing. But there’s so much hard work to be done. We knew that coming back the series isn’t going to be good if it’s only a victory lap. It has to be original and fresh, and as good as it’s ever been. So, we’ve gotta get down to business.
It’s no surprise that Chris Carter and co. would be feeling a great deal of pressure when it comes to a tenth season of The X-Files. The series has been off the air in primetime television since the end of Season 9 back in 2002, and the 2008 feature film The X-Files: I Want to Believe really wasn’t all that great. The show was groundbreaking enough during its original run in the 90s that it was a perfect pick for a revival, but fans who have stuck with the franchise even after the dark days of Season 9 and I Want to Believe deserve something remarkable from the six-episode miniseries continuation.
Luckily for Chris Carter, series stars David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson signing on for the miniseries will undoubtedly be enough to draw viewers in for the event. The complex mythology and academic debate of the show certainly wouldn’t have been enough to last the franchise as long as it has without Duchovny and Anderson as Mulder and Scully; the two stars eagerly taking the time to bring The X-Files back is half the battle to making the miniseries worth the watch. The other half is certainly more difficult as the material that drove the plot of the show through the 90s must be adapted to the 21st century, but the chemistry between the leads should help get it off the ground.
Still, all of the behind-the-scenes glimpses that we’ve gotten so far have indicated that the miniseries is definitely not coasting on just the chemistry of Duchovny and Anderson’s dynamic. Check out the latest peek at what awaits fans in 2016:
Luckily for everybody who has been whistling the theme song ever since the miniseries was announced and binge-watching on Netflix in the interim, The X-Files will return to Fox at 8 p.m. ET on January 24, 2016. We want to believe that it will be great, and it looks like Carter and his team want to make sure that the continuation will be every bit as terrifying/fantastic as we hope.
