The X-Files stopped filming in Vancouver more than a decade ago, but fans still remember what David Duchovny once said of the city. Reporting this week on the commencement of filming for the X-Files reboot, CBC revived an old quote.
“According to published reports, he once said Vancouver was OK — if you liked 400 inches of rainfall a day.”
But Duchovny himself has long since made amends with Vancouver, even responding to the question posed by a New York Times reporter in an interview earlier this year.
“I love Vancouver. The issue back in the day was I’d just gotten married and Tea [Leoni, Mr. Duchovny’s ex-wife] lived in L.A., and I wanted to start a family. I couldn’t be in Canada 10 months out of the year.”
The X-Files shot in Vancouver for the first five years of its nine-year run. Both X-Files movies were also filmed in the city.
Duchovny joked about returning to British Columbia in a Twitter exchange in May with co-star Gillian Anderson, who is also returning for the X-Files reboot.
. @GillianA will you be in Vancouver in a few weeks by any chance? Let’s do something musical there perhaps?
— David Duchovny (@davidduchovny) May 14, 2015
I’ll follow you anywhere my little legs will carry me Double D. Within reason. https://t.co/pUbvZTXU6J
— Gillian Anderson (@GillianA) May 14, 2015
The jabs were likely in reference to Gillian joining Duchovny onstage as he sang in New York. The actors performed a rendition of a Neil Young song, and one YouTuber was there to record the action.
As the cast returned to the city to get started on the six-part miniseries that will debut next year, Duchovny gave a nod to his Vancouver audience.
Hello Vancouver? Mulder? Here I come… pic.twitter.com/rXza7Os7oL
— David Duchovny (@davidduchovny) June 4, 2015
Where is agent Waldo??? pic.twitter.com/mFSboqP2MX
— David Duchovny (@davidduchovny) June 5, 2015
For an actor who had apparently disliked Vancouver’s rain, he chose his timing well. The city is in the middle of a heat wave , as Duchovny’s sunny pictures on Twitter indicate.
As for the reboot, Duchovny told the Times he looks forward to honoring what made the first series a success.
“You might argue with me, but I always felt like we were legit. We’re still trying to do the same show. It’s not like were trying to make it 2.0, or whatever the.0 is now. 3.0. We’re gonna make the same show. But it’ll be interesting because Gillian and I are older. I don’t want to act like it’s 20 years ago.”
The new series features the same core cast and showrunner Chris Carter. One guest star has so far been announced: Community actor and The Soup host Joel McHale.
The new X-Files debuts on January 24, 2016.
[Image: Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny at The Cutting Room in New York City May 12, 2015. Photo by Astrid Stawiarz / Getty Images Entertainment]