Production[edit]
Conception[edit]
See also: The X-Files (season 1) and Pilot (The X-Files)
Mulder and Scully came right out of my head. A dichotomy. They are the equal parts of my desire to believe in
something and my inability to believe in something. My skepticism and my faith. And the writing of the characters
came very easily to me. I want, like a lot of people do, to have the experience of witnessing a paranormal
phenomenon. At the same time I want not to accept it, but to question it. I think those characters and those
voices came out of that duality.
—Chris Carter on creating the characters of Mulder and Scully.[45]
Chris Carter created The X-Files and wrote the series pilot, along with several other episodes.
California native Chris Carter was given the opportunity to produce new shows for the
Fox network in the early 1990s. As Carter was tired of the comedies he had been working on
for Walt Disney Pictures,[46] a report that 3.7 million Americans may have been abducted by
aliens, the Watergate scandal and the 1970s horror series Kolchak: The Night Stalker all
contributed to trigger the idea for The X-Files. He wrote the pilot episode in 1992.[47]
Carter's initial pitch for The X-Files was rejected by Fox executives. He fleshed out the concept
and returned a few weeks later, whereupon they commissioned the pilot. Carter worked
with NYPD Blue producer Daniel Sackheim to further develop the pilot, drawing stylistic
inspiration from the 1988 documentary The Thin Blue Line and the British television series Prime
Suspect.[48] Inspiration also came from Carter's memories of The Twilight Zone as well as
from The Silence of the Lambs, which provided the impetus for framing the series around agents
from the FBI, in order to provide the characters with a more plausible reason for being involved in
each case than Carter believed was present in Kolchak.[49] Carter was determined to keep the
relationship between the two leads strictly platonic, basing their interactions on the characters
of Emma Peel and John Steed in The Avengers series.[50][51]
The early 1990s series Twin Peaks was a major influence on the show's dark atmosphere and its
often surreal blend of drama and irony. Duchovny had appeared as a cross-dressing DEA agent
in Twin Peaks and the Mulder character was seen as a parallel to that show's FBI Agent Dale
Cooper.[52] The producers and writers cited All the President's Men, Three Days of the
Condor, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Rashomon, The Thing, The
Boys from Brazil, The Silence of the Lambs and JFK as other influences.[53] Carter's use of
continuous takes in "Triangle" was modeled on Hitchcock's Rope.[54] In addition, episodes written
by Darin Morgan often referred to or referenced other films.[55]
Casting[edit]
Duchovny portrays Fox Mulder as a main character for season 1–7, 10 and 11 of the series, as well as an
intermittent lead in the eighth and ninth.
Anderson portrays Dana Scully for the entire eleven seasons of the series; she also made The X-
Files history in 2000 by becoming the first female writer and director of an episode. [56]
Duchovny had worked in Los Angeles for three years prior to The X-Files; at first he wanted to
focus on feature films. In 1993, his manager, Melanie Green, gave him the script for the pilot
episode of The X-Files. Green and Duchovny were both convinced it was a good script, so he
auditioned for the lead.[57] Duchovny's audition was "terrific", though he talked rather slowly. While
the casting director of the show was very positive toward him, Carter thought that he was not
particularly intelligent. He asked Duchovny if he could "please" imagine himself as an FBI agent
in "future" episodes. Duchovny, however, turned out to be one of the best-read people that
Carter knew.[58]
Anderson auditioned for the role of Scully in 1993. "I couldn't put the script down", she recalled.
[56]
The network wanted either a more established or a "taller, leggier, blonder and breastier"
actress for Scully than the 24-year-old Anderson, a theater veteran with minor film experience.
After auditions, Carter felt she was the only choice.[59][60][61] Carter insisted that Anderson had the
kind of "no-nonsense integrity that the role required." For portraying Scully, Anderson won
numerous major awards: the Screen Actors Guild Award in 1996 and 1997, an Emmy Award in
1997, and a Golden Globe Award 1997.[56]
The character Walter Skinner was played by actor Mitch Pileggi, who had unsuccessfully
auditioned for the roles of two or three other characters on The X-Files before getting the part. At
first, the fact that he was asked back to audition for the recurring role slightly puzzled him, until
he discovered the reason he had not previously been cast in those roles—Carter had been
unable to envision Pileggi as any of those characters, because the actor had been shaving his
head. When Pileggi auditioned for Walter Skinner, he had been in a grumpy mood and had
allowed his small amount of hair to grow. His attitude fit well with Skinner's character, causing
Carter to assume that the actor was only pretending to be grumpy. Pileggi later realized he had
been lucky that he had not been cast in one of the earlier roles, as he believed he would have
appeared in only a single episode and would have missed the opportunity to play the recurring
role.[62]
Before the seventh season aired, Duchovny filed a lawsuit against 20th Century Fox, claiming
that Fox had undersold the rights to its own affiliates, thereby costing him huge sums of money.
Eventually, the lawsuit was settled, and Duchovny was awarded a settlement of about
$20 million, but the lawsuit put strain on Duchovny's professional relationships. Neither Carter
nor Duchovny was contracted to work on the series beyond the seventh season; however, Fox
entered into negotiations near the end of that season in order to bring the two on board for an
eighth season.[63] After settling his contract dispute, Duchovny quit full-time participation in the
show after the seventh season.[64] This contributed to uncertainties over the likelihood of an eighth
season.[65] Carter and most fans felt the show was at its natural endpoint with Duchovny's
departure, but it was decided that Mulder would be abducted at the end of the seventh season
and would return in 12 episodes the following year. [66] The producers then announced that a new
character, John Doggett, would fill Mulder's role. [67]
More than 100 actors auditioned for the role of Doggett, but only about ten were seriously
considered. Lou Diamond Phillips, Hart Bochner, and Bruce Campbell were among the ten. The
producers chose Robert Patrick.[11] Carter believed that the series could continue for another ten
years with new leads, and the opening credits were accordingly redesigned in both seasons eight
and nine to emphasize the new actors (along with Pileggi, who was finally listed as a main
character).[12] Doggett's presence did not give the series the ratings boost the network executives
were hoping for.[17] The eighth-season episode "This is Not Happening" marked the first
appearance of Monica Reyes, played by Gish, who became a main character in season nine.
Her character was developed and introduced due to Anderson's possible departure at the end of
the eighth season. Although Anderson stayed until the end, Gish became a series regular. [68]
