When the show concluded its original nine-season run in 2002, the supernatural sci-fi procedural had mostly lost its momentum. Lead actors David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson had been missing for significant periods, and the ongoing “mythology” arcs had become excessively complicated, featuring numerous conflicting explanations for the alien-invasion conspiracies pursued by FBI agents Fox Mulder (Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Anderson). The follow-up 2008 film, The X-Files: I Want to Believe, failed to significantly improve matters, even with the return of Duchovny and Anderson and a self-contained plot. Consequently, fan skepticism toward the 2016 revival on Fox was understandable, despite the involvement of the original stars and many veteran writers and producers.
A decade ago, the six-episode tenth season debuted with “My Struggle,” an episode written and directed by X-Files creator Chris Carter, which resumed his continuously developing mythology. The premiere deliberately recalls the show’s peak, recycling the original opening credits and returning to one of history’s most notorious UFO events: the purported 1947 crash of an alien spacecraft in Roswell, New Mexico. Among the series’ mythology installments, “My Struggle” ranks as average, yet it effectively updates the program for a contemporary audience while preserving its core identity.
Mulder reflects that “actual proof has been strangely hard to come by” regarding their long quest for extraterrestrial truth, and in typical X-Files style, “My Struggle” mainly introduces new uncertainties. However, Carter demonstrates an awareness of how the series’ treatment of conspiracy theories had shifted from a niche sci-fi topic to a heated political issue. The agents’ return to active duty is facilitated by Tad O’Malley (Joel McHale), a talk show host reminiscent of Alex Jones, who promotes far-right rhetoric alongside claims of UFO secrecy. O’Malley is a con artist who has profited from agitating his gullible viewers, yet he is also a sincere devotee with authentic insight into alien technology.
The intelligence from O’Malley primarily serves to reunite Mulder and Scully at the FBI and with their former supervisor, Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi). While the script for “My Struggle” can be clumsy, Duchovny and Anderson slip back into their iconic roles effortlessly, exhibiting a worn, familiar chemistry that stems from their long collaboration. The writers of The X-Files consistently struggled to manage the Mulder/Scully relationship, and their eventual romantic involvement was less rewarding than the earlier anticipation. Their portrayal as an established couple in I Want to Believe seemed unnatural, prompting Carter to wisely reintroduce them after a separation, restoring the fruitful friction of their partnership while acknowledging their complicated past.
This shared history encompasses their son, William, whose origin is entangled in some of the show’s most exaggerated mythology. William’s true nature and location form a central mystery across the two revival seasons, yet this does not stop the series from featuring its characteristic standalone episodes. Had the revival launched slightly later, it likely would have debuted on a streaming platform with an exclusive focus on serialized storytelling. Airing on Fox, however, The X-Files maintained its procedural format, and the eccentric “monster of the week” installments again proved to be more robust than the mythology-centric ones.
These unconventional episodes commenced immediately after “My Struggle,” with Mulder and Scully returning to investigate what a police officer terms “spooky cases.” They transition from the newest alien conspiracy to a puzzling suicide at a genetics company, and these self-contained narratives revive the clever humor and inventive imagery that characterized the show’s finest early years.
Especially in the 10-episode 11th season, Carter and the creative team produced amusing, frightening, and bizarre episodes that leveraged the format’s flexibility. Beloved writer Darin Morgan came back for two incisively comedic entries, including “The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat,” which cleverly parodies the show’s own conspiracy-minded leanings through a supposedly forgotten X-Files agent portrayed by Brian Huskey.
The decision to accommodate stylistic experiments such as Morgan’s—or “Rm9sbG93ZXJz,” an ingenious, almost wordless horror-comedy that pits Mulder and Scully against malicious AI in smart appliances—is key to the two revival seasons exceeding expectations. These episodes now integrate smoothly into the broader series, culminating in a finale that is both irritating and fulfilling. While not flawless, the revival demonstrated that a series which appeared entirely depleted in 2002 could exhibit remarkable vitality fourteen years later.