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‘The X-Files’ Behind The Scenes: Pay Disputes, Islamophobia, Alternate Storylines

By Stacey Cole
Published on: 04:21 PST, Mar 23, 2016

The X-Files, a classic sci-fi drama TV show, was recently relaunched for a new season starring the returning cast from its original run in the 90s. Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny reprised their leading roles of Dana Scully and Fox Mulder, respectively. The relaunch was well received commercially, but according to Express, the show was not without its troubles internally. Right out of the gate, there was a seeming bias towards David Duchovny over Gillian Anderson in The X-Files relaunch, with Gillian Anderson only being offered half the income of what the studio was offering David Duchovny.

Gillian sees that the reason behind the reduced pay offer was that David came from filming a new movie while she had come from nothing. Gillian Anderson spoke on David Duchovny receiving more pay than she did.

“I knew that from the beginning and there was a reason why [David Duchovny was being paid more than me] because I was starting from nothing and he had just done a big film but there was a certain point where we were doing the same amount of work and it was time to renegotiate. And I did. We got the phone call with what the offer is, we knew what David’s offer was this time around and it was twice as much as my offer was, which is stupid really because I’m going to find out and worked really hard for parity back then and was kind of shocked.”

Gillian then dismissed the pay dilemma as the way negotiations ran between her and the studio, seeing that David had a team to back him up.

“It’s always been that David’s team does the negotiating and then I just say, [I want what he’s having] basically.”

Internal problems aside, the show was not without its criticisms. The X-Files just might not have needed another season, according to the Telegraph. The show suffered from bad writing from time to time, which was especially apparent with its dialogue and its clunky euphemisms for the internet.

One of the more apparent signs of awkward writing was when villain Cigarette Smoking Man developed an obnoxious English accent out of nowhere.

Th fifth episode of the new The X-Files season caused a fair amount of controversy. According to Express, the TV show received heavy criticism over some signs of Islamophobia. The opening sequence of the episode featured two Muslim terrorists just about to commit an act of destruction. Fans did not receive this scene well at all, and some fans went online to express how they felt about it.

A fan spoke on how the sequence might have reinforced negative stereotyping.

“Kind of unsure about that xfiles opening scene… reinforcing negative stereotypes of Muslims in the USA and promoting Islamophobia…?”

Another fan spoke on how the scene just made the revival more unimpressive than it already was.

“So disheartening to see such blatant islamophobia on one of your fav shows. The X-files revival is def not living up to my expectations.”

The X-Files relaunch is not the only place where fans can get a taste of the series. There has been a comic released recently, a one-shot entitled X-Files Deviations, that is a “what if” scenario for the show, according to CNET.

The graphic novel provides an interesting perspective on big plot points, and it turns some aspects of The X-Files on its head. One of the notable things that happened in the story was a scenario in where Fox Mulder gets abducted by aliens instead of his sister. The X-Files one-shot comic book was released on March 9.

[Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images]

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The X-Files Gillian Anderson David Duchovny
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