Fans who are ecstatically anticipating another opportunity to prove that “the truth is out there” with the upcoming limited-run revival of The X-Files will probably be thrilled to know that FBI agents, Fox Mulder and Dana Scully won’t be the only characters from the original series who will return. Confirming rumors that have been floating out there for the past week, Mulder himself has gone on record revealing that we can at least expect two more perennial favorites from the supernatural procedural to come back.
Appearing last night on The Late Show with David Letterman, David Duchovny discussed the surprisingly pleasant revelation of the limited return run of The X-Files. When asked by Letterman about which members of the original cast might return, Duchovny, in form with repertory dry wit stated, “Gillian and I, we’re original.” He would then confirm the rumors citing the presence of Mitch Pileggi’s FBI assistant director, Walter Skinner.
However, in a bit of news that was less expected than Pileggi's return, Duchovny would also confirm the news that William B. Davis will be reprising his role as the sinister, shadowy character, C.G.B. Spender, who is widely known as “The Cigarette Smoking Man.”
The revelation confirms a report made last week from TV Wise claiming that The X-Files revival was in talks to bring back an array of franchise returnees that, besides Pileggi and Davis, included Robert Patrick as Agent John Dogget and Anabeth Gish as Agent Monica Reyes. The latter two were featured late into the series’ run during Seasons 8 and 9, taking lead roles on the show during the period that Duchovny had seriously reduced his role. (After hearing the call of Hollywood, which didn’t turn out to be too loud, financially.) As that report indicates, Patrick would prospectively only appear in a small number of new episodes, due to his commitment to CBS cybercrime drama, Scorpion.
Now, with characters, Walter Skinner and The Smoking Man confirmed, we see the revival show starting to take shape. In fact, the confirmation of The Smoking Man’s return is an especially potent revelation, seeing as the character was supposedly killed off in The X-Files series finale back in 2002. It was to be an ironic death, seeing as The Smoking Man, who had devoted his life on conspiracies covering up the truth, found himself a target because of some secrets that he happened to possess.
While an X-Files comic book series implied that The Smoking Man actually avoided his supposed death by helicopter-fired rocket in the TV series, Duchovny’s confirmation of Davis’ return as the character may have canonized the idea of his survival. This, of course, is excellent news since the character had always been an indelible part of the mythology. In fact, it opens the possibility that they could also corral back The Lone Gunmen, who, like The Smoking Man, were revealed to actually still be alive in the comic book mythos.
Nevertheless, it looks like this upcoming 6-episode revival of The X-Files will be looking to have more than its share of integral franchise characters. You can check out the full late night interview, below.
