‘The X-Files’ Have Been Re-Opened Again With A Longer Season, But Is This The End?

The X-Files left fans hanging with that season 10 finale, so it’s understandable that anxiety has been high, as the world waits to see if David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson would be willing to sign on for more adventures. Sure enough, the pair are returning and, in sharing that news, Fox Broadcasting Company has also revealed that there will be more episodes in Season 11. All good news. Considering how long it took everyone to commit for another installment, does this mean that Season 11 will bring The X-Files full circle with Chris Carter penning a fitting end for Fox Mulder and Dana Scully?

The X-Files Re-Opened – Fox Mulder Continues His Quest for the Truth

Yes, The X-Files is returning for more and, as The Hollywood Reporter shares, the Fox series will be back sooner than expected, set to premiere season 11 in the 2017-18 broadcasting year. David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson are both reprising their X-Files characters, joining Chris Carter, who has maintained a tight control of the show as series creator and showrunner.

Fox has been eager to bring The X-Files back, following the success of the first six-episode revival season, which aired in January 2016. In spite of massive fan interest and Fox’s willingness to work with the actors, scheduling obstacles have previously prevented commitments from key individuals.

“Iconic characters, rich storytelling, bold creators — these are the hallmarks of great TV shows,” says Fox president, David Madden. “And they are some of the reasons why The X-Files has had such a profound impact on millions of fans worldwide. Chris’ creativity, along with the brilliant work of David and Gillian, continue to propel this pop culture phenomenon, and we can’t wait to see what fresh mysteries Mulder and Scully uncover in this next chapter of The X-Files.”

Season 11 of The X-Files will also be longer. The new installment will consist of 10 episodes, giving writers more leeway in telling the story of Fox Mulder and Dana Scully.

Will The X-Files Finally Solve Its Mysteries?

As Los Angeles Times shares, last year’s revival of The X-Files drew in 16 million viewers and, as Eddie Van Blundht (Darin Morgan) would point out, that’s not “Small Potatoes” for Fox. Still, the revival stirred more questions than it answered with its limited six-episode run. It also established a darker, soul-searching Fox Mulder on a quest to finally lay his demons to rest, both in a literal and a metaphorical sense.

This is just a guess on this writer’s part, but the longer season may indicate an intention to wrap things up for Mulder and Scully, before bringing The X-Files to and end. After all, both Duchovny and Anderson have commented that they preferred the shorter seasons, so adding four more episodes at this time seems indicative of some kind of a change.

It may be time for The X-Files to close permanently. After all, all good things must eventually come to a close and, as critics noted with Season 10, Gillian and David seemed to have lost their passion for the work.

If The X-Files does close its doors with Season 11, there must come with that ending a strong sense of closure for fans. After 11 seasons, fans deserve to finally learn, once and for all, which conspiracy is real and which lies were told in protecting that secret.

Also, Dana Scully is still grieving for the loss of her son William. Will she find him? Will Mulder help her find their son, returning the favor for those many cases in which Scully had Mulder’s back, whether she believed in his cause or not?

Finally, as the season 10 cliffhanger of The X-Files indicated, will the alien threat finally be revealed and can we at last know their motives and their reasons for obsessing over the people of Earth?

[Featured Image by Fox]