With Fox’sUntitled X-Files Revivalset to debut in just a few months, the network held its world premiere screening of the pilot episode,My Struggle, at the MIPCOM convention in Cannes, France today. While this hasn’t been officially unveiled by Fox yet, Twitter userI Love Marseillerevealed a newX-Filesposter that was spotted at MIPCOM. The poster features both Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) standing on a desolate road, with two mysterious beams of light forming a cryptic X between them.
Series creator and executive producerChris Carterwas on hand for the event, holding a Q&A session for the fans in attendance, following thepilotepisode screening. The original series ran for nine seasons between 1993 and 2001, spawning two movies, 1998’sThe X-Filesand 2008’sThe X-Files: I Want to Believe. The executive producer revealed at the Q&A, viaMIPWorld, that he never imagined getting the chance at a new X-Files series.
“I never imagined that I’d be sitting here in Cannes introducing more television episodes! It’s surreal. It’s really a dream come true for me to do something. I’ve been doing this now for roughly a little over a third of my life. I jumped at the chance to do it. Every day I look at the newspaper and I see a possible X-Files episode, so this is obviously something that - I did it for a long time and you never quite lose the eye for what would be good X-Files storytelling. It’s a perfect time to come back with the X-Files considering global politics. It’s about my faith as well. My faith in science. Believe it or not, I’m a skeptic. I’ve never been visited by aliens believe it nor not. It’s a story about the modern pursuit of science by scientists. If it weren’t for the science, this would be just another show about the paranormal.”
This new incarnation ofThe X-Filesis only six episodes long, which pales in comparison to the 22-episode seasons fans were used to during the original show’s run.Chris Carteradmitted that it took quite awhile to “get going” and tell these new stories. He also addressed the massive changes in technology that have happened in our society since we last sawMulderandScully, and that the show will address modern issues like the government spying on its own people. He also added that, if the show were to come back for more episodes, it would most likely be in a format similar to thisevent series, while confirming that these episodes will mix in mythology from the series along with stand alone “monster of the week” episodes.
“It’s certainly being filmed with the modern technology. Our stories are contemporary stories happening now, some of them ripped from the headlines. I think this show has kept pace with time. For the future of X Files, if we are to come back, I think you’ll see us come back with these mini-series, if you will. Special events. We used to tell a story over a long saga, 22 to 25 episodes. Now the arc is much sharper, from one to six. So I think we pack a lot more in to these six episodes. The show was originally mythology episodes that were scattered alongside the standalone monster of the week episodes. We do in this six-episode arc a combination of those two things. We begin with a mythology episode, we end with a mythology episode, and the six episodes in between are standalone episodes, including monster-of-the-week episodes.”
X-Files debuts on Sunday, January 24, directly following the NFC Championship Game on Fox, with the second episode,Home Again, airing one day later, Monday, January 25 at 8 PM ET, its normal time slot for the rest of its truncated season. Would you like to see another X-Files event series after this new season runs its course? Let us know what you think after taking a look at this poster.
