‘The X-Files’ revival official; David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson returning to Fox for six episodes

The fans have spoken, and Fox has listened: “The X-Files” is officially coming back on the air. Given that this was long considered to be one of the biggest hits of the past few years, we are not even remotely surprised to hear of its return now. With that being said, we are still surprised at some of the details, including that it will only be six episodes long. We assumed that it was not going to run for 15 episodes, but we were thinking somewhere within the 10-13 range. “Empire,” for example, had 12 installments in its first season.

The good news is that maybe this episode order was a way to ensure that all of the key players would be back, including Gillian Anderson, David Duchovny, and also series creator Chris Carter. In a statement, Carter joked to “think of it as a 13-year commercial break,” while Fox programming heads Dana Walden and Gary Newman added the following:

“We had the privilege of working with Chris on all nine seasons of The X-Files – one of the most rewarding creative experiences of our careers … The X-Files was not only a seminal show for both the studio and the network, it was a worldwide phenomenon that shaped pop culture – yet remained a true gem for the legions of fans who embraced it from the beginning.”

We envision this limited series being a way for the show to ultimately tie together many of the franchise’s loose ends, which were left dangling somewhat following “I Want to Believe,” the last edition of the major film franchise. Given that there is no confirmed future beyond this, we at least hope this is the case.

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