For fans of The X-Files, the show’s recent six-episode mini-season was a long-awaited opportunity to reconnect with everyone’s favorite special agents, Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson).
It was fun to see where time has taken our beloved duo, and to watch them get reacquainted with life at the FBI. But the show’s short run was really just enough to whet our appetite and leave us wanting more.
Here are 10 Reasons The X-Files Needs Another Season.
If you haven’t seen the revival yet, watch out for SPOILERS
10. The mythology
In some ways, it seems like the series retconned a lot of the mythology it created after season 5 (thought not entirely). In season 10, we find out that it’s the government that has been the big bad all along, experimenting on its people using alien technology and humans with alien DNA in preparation for a large-scale takeover. Meaning that the warring factions of aliens, the alien bounty hunters, the colonization of the planet using bees, and the black oil were covering up what the government had been doing to its people.
This is reminiscent of what DOD agent Michael Kritschgau (John Finn) told Mulder in the season five episode “Redux,” which led to Mulder’s temporary skepticism about aliens. So it looks like the answers we’ve been waiting so long for might be here – the government was behind it all. But is that really the end of the story? We need to find out more.
9. Mulder’s vindication
So a lot of Mulder and Scully’s previous experience with aliens might have been an elaborate distraction. But Mulder was right about a couple of things: aliens exist, and their existence is involved in a massive government conspiracy. It’s time we see Mulder get a little respect for this.
Since the show’s beginning, he is seen by most people as “spooky,” paranoid, and a little nutty. But of course, Mulder knew something was up, despite what his detractors said. We’d love to see Tad O’Malley (Joel McHale) interview Mulder on his show as a respected authority figure. It would be a lot of fun to see Mulder finally have a public “I told you so” moment.
8. Tad O’Malley
Speaking of Tad, he was a great character, and Joel McHale played him perfectly. The actor is a dedicated superfan of the show and in an interview with E! News, called it “one of my favorite shows of all time.” Tad is just as passionate about uncovering the truth as Mulder, but he has taken a very different path in life.
It’s interesting to see a character on the same unyielding quest for truth as Mulder, but approaching it from a different angle. Tad uses his show as his investigative vehicle, rather than the FBI. Plus, the character’s intensity was a lot of fun to watch. We’d really love to see more of this character.
7. John Doggett
Near the end of the show’s original run, it looked like agents John Doggett (Robert Patrick) and Monica Reyes (Annabeth Gish) were gearing up to take over the reins of the X-Files from Mulder and Scully.
In the last episode of season 10, we get to see Monica, and find out how she became entangled with the Cigarette Smoking Man (William B. Davis). But we don’t get to see Doggett, or hear about what he’s been up to. He was a major character for the last two seasons of the original run, and we really want to find out where life has taken him.
6. Einstein and Miller
Agents Einstein (Lauren Ambrose) and Miller (Robbie Amell) are almost parodies of the younger, season 1 versions of Scully and Mulder – but in a good way. Einstein is a confident, redheaded scientist who’s skeptical of all things paranormal, and Miller is an enthusiastic, earnest young agent who’d like nothing more than to be a full-time player on the X-Files.
We definitely don’t want to see them take over for their predecessors in a future season of the show, because it just wouldn’t be The X-Files without Fox and Dana. But they’re interesting characters, and it would be fun to watch them evolve under Mulder and Scully’s guidance. Already, they’ve shown a capacity for growth, as Mulder and Scully have pushed the boundaries of their belief systems (Einstein’s in particular). Or maybe they could get their own spinoff – that’s a show we would watch for sure!
5. Gibson Praise
In The X-Files comics, we get to see Gibson Praise as an adult – and it’s pretty sweet. He has a new mastery over his impressive abilities, and is leading a new incarnation of the Syndicate. It’s exciting to see Gibson (Jeff Gulka) all grown up.
He’s an interesting character because, although he really makes a mess of things for Mulder and Scully, we can’t help sympathizing with him because we know he had a pretty awful childhood. It would be beyond amazing to see grown-up Gibson on the show – and with his alien DNA, it wouldn’t have to be much of a stretch to bring him into the mythology’s current trajectory.
4. The Cigarette Smoking Man
Just when you think he’s down for the count, he always pulls through. We didn’t get to see a lot of him during season 10, but from what we did see, it looks like the Cigarette Smoking Man, a.k.a. C.G.B. Spender, is likely one of the puppeteers pulling the strings of the massive conspiracy Mulder and Scully have just found out about. And we would expect nothing less from him.
CSM is one of the best villains in television history. He’s smart, sneaky, and a survivor, yet he’s not invulnerable. There are moments when it seems like he genuinely cares about Mulder, and he may have even truly loved Mulder’s mother. We really can’t get enough of CSM and would love to see him continue his scheming in another season.
3. Baby William
At the end of the show’s original run, Mulder and Scully put their infant son, William, up for adoption in order to protect him. Throughout season 10, the two characters talk about William a lot. Scully in particular seems to be struggling with the decision to give him away. It would be really nice to see Scully reunited with her son. And, because he likely inherited her alien DNA, which is the key to the vaccine that will save everyone from the government takeover, William would potentially play an important role in a hypothetical season 11.
It would be interesting to see how William handles not only meeting his parents and making peace with any questions he has had about him, but also the fact that he’s a part of a world that’s much larger and stranger than the one he’s accustomed to.
2. Mulder and Scully’s relationship
Mulder and Scully are in a little bit of a weird place right now. It’s clear they still love each other – and always will. But they’re not officially together as a couple. While they haven’t directly talked about why, it seems to have something to do with Scully’s sadness over not being able to raise William, and Mulder’s kind of obsessive tendencies when it comes to uncovering the truth.
Early in season 10, there’s a little bit of slightly passive-aggressive dialog between the two, suggesting that there are some unresolved issues. We’d love to see Mulder and Scully work things out and get back together. They really are soul mates, and it feels strange to have this bit of awkwardness between them.
1. It ended on a cliffhanger
The season 10 finale ends on a huge cliffhanger! Mulder is dying and needs the vaccine created by Scully and Einstein in order to live. And he’s not the only one. As a result of the government’s experiments on its people, everyone who doesn’t have alien DNA is falling ill. Tad O’Malley fights to keep his show on the air, but the airwaves eventually fall into radio silence, as there’s no one well enough to keep things running.
The world is basically descending into chaos, and it feels a bit like the beginning of the zombie apocalypse. The show cannot end this way! We have to see how things turn out! This seems like the biggest indication that there are plans for future episodes. We just can’t imagine the show ending with so much still up in the air.
