Every month, Netflix features a revolving door of content, including but not limited to original programs and comedy specials, movies, and popular TV shows. Currently, Netflix is listing Fox’s popular science fiction series The X-Files as leaving the subscription streaming service on April 1, 2015. So, if you’ve been powering through the nine seasons that aired on Fox, you have a month to binge-watch to your heart's content.
While this obviously seems like horrible, rake-nails-down-your-face news, it could be way worse. Originally, Netflix had plans to kick off a ton of Twentieth Century Fox-owned programs, including Angel, Firefly and Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Because what’s the use in having fun science fiction and supernatural content available for streaming, am I right? Luckily, deals seem to have been worked out. Currently The X-Files seems to be the lone Fox holdout expected to leave Netflix on April 1.
Netflix’s ever-changing schedule can be a bit of a whirlwind. Sometimes when the streaming service announces a show is leaving, it really does get kicked off on the exact date listed. Such was the case with Battlestar Galactica when Netflix got rid of it last fall. More recently, however, a bunch of BBC shows were expected to leave Netflix, including Doctor Who and The Office, and Netflix worked out last minute deals to keep some (but not all) of the programs available.
In terms of The X-Files, it’s entirely possible that Fox and the streaming company could not reach a monetary agreement to keep the series. For now, however, The X-Files is still scheduled to leave the streaming service in less than a month. Interestingly, the news comes just a few months after Hulu worked out an agreement with Fox to make all nine seasons of the series available on its streaming service. In addition, Amazon Prime also has a deal worked out to have The X-Files on its service. So, if you have a second streaming subscription with either of those services, you are in luck.
Fox is actually attempting to reboot The X-Files right now, following the success of the limited 24: Live Another Day series that aired last summer. Theoretically, the company would want to saturate the brand as much as possible while The X-Files gets bandied about as a new project. But The X-Files is still a good brand, and Fox and Netflix might not be on the same page about how much that brand is worth. It’s hard to tell exactly what is going on behind closed doors, but next month it seems like we’ll be saying goodbye to Scully and Mulder. If you are close to finishing the series, we hope you can find the time and energy to power through in the next month.
