‘The X-Files’ Creator Chris Carter On The Return Of The Lone Gunmen
The X-Files will be reviving The Lone Gunmen this week, and even though fans are skeptical when it comes to just how series creator Chris Carter plans to resurrect the trio, viewers are mostly excited to once again see their second-favorite X-Files team back in action. Aside from Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson), the dynamic relationship created in the characters of John Fitzgerald Byers (Bruce Harwood), Melvin Frohike (Tom Braidwood), and Ringo Langly (Dean Haglund) is responsible for some of the most entertaining moments in the history of the show.
Yet, fans still want to know just how Carter has worked out their return.
Chris Carter Gives Insight Into How He Will Revive The Lone Gunmen On The X-Files
There are few images that will sear themselves into one’s brain as readily as the newly released teaser image of Byers, Frohike, and Langly adorned in classic western style garb at a glittery, tinsel-laden bar, so one must wonder (and hope) that it only appears they have given up their conspiracy theorists’ lifestyles for the rodeo circuit. Fans of The X-Files may hold onto the hope that The Lone Gunmen are once again working undercover to save some damsel in distress or serve as a measure of last resort for their pal Mulder.
But aren’t we getting ahead of ourselves? Unless you’re new to The X-Files, at this point, you should be asking yourself how The Lone Gunmen are even alive. Fourteen years ago, The Lone Gunmen were all killed, dying a hero’s death, as they stopped a biological weapon in their final appearance on The X-Files — until now.
How can this be?
“When you’re dead on The X-Files, you’re never necessarily gone,” explains Chris Carter. “There are ways to bring people back in dream sequences, flashbacks, and the like. This was an opportunity to use them, and bring them back to the show, in what is a presumed psychedelic hallucination.”
So, in truth, The Lone Gunmen are returning to The X-Files in an otherworldly manifestation, which falls in line with much of the way in which The X-Files tells its paranormal stories. We have seen such things before. The ghost of Scully’s father, Samantha Mulder visiting her brother, and on and on. In the case of The Lone Gunmen, however, it provided Chris Carter an opportunity to bring back characters that he has long regretted killing off in the first place.
“We just did what the network did [to] their show: Pull the plug!” Carter laughs, referring to the short-lived spin-off. “I was sad to see them go. They were go-to characters when you needed weird exposition. I didn’t want to pretend that they weren’t dead, but I was looking for any way to bring them back.”
Is Fox Preparing Us For A Spin-Off Of The X-Files?
This week’s episode of The X-Files will also introduce Agent Einstein, played by Lauren Ambrose (Six Feet Under), and it seems interesting that she is another redhead. As feisty and rational as Dana Scully was 23 years ago, she tests “Spooky” Mulder from their very first meeting. A teaser clip from tonight’s episode, “Babylon,” reveals just how impatient she is with Fox Mulder and the X-Files in general.
Could the Fox network be setting fans up for a new series, allowing this six-episode revival to serve as a backdoor pilot for a new, rebooted version of The X-Files? It does seem that way, judging by the introduction of Agent Einstein. The similarities Ambrose shares with Gillian Anderson, both on and off screen seem far too obvious to be mere coincidence. Either there is a spin-off in the works or the shared likeness between these two actresses will play some part in The X-Files revival before it’s over.
The X-Files airs tonight on Fox.
[Image by Fox]
