The X-Files is an American science fiction drama television series created by Chris Carter. The original television series aired from September 10, 1993, to May 19, 2002, on Fox. The program spanned nine seasons, with 202 episodes. A short tenth season consisting of six episodes premiered on January 24, 2016, and concluded on February 22, 2016. Following the ratings success of this revival, The X-Files returned for an eleventh season of ten episodes, which premiered on January 3, 2018, and concluded on March 21, 2018. In addition to the television series, two feature films have been released: The 1998 film The X-Files which took place as part of the TV series continuity, and the stand-alone film The X-Files: I Want to Believe, released in 2008, six years after the original television run had ended.
The series revolves around Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny), and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) who investigate X-Files: marginalized, unsolved cases involving paranormal phenomena. Mulder believes in the existence of aliens and the paranormal while Scully, a medical doctor and a skeptic, is assigned to scientifically analyze Mulder's discoveries, offer alternate rational theories to his work, and thus return him to mainstream cases. Early in the series, both agents become pawns in a larger conflict and come to trust only each other and a few select people. The agents also discover an agenda of the government to keep the existence of extraterrestrial life a secret. They develop a close relationship which begins as a platonic friendship, but becomes a romance by the end of the series. In addition to the series-spanning story arc, "monster of the week" episodes form roughly two-thirds of all episodes.
The X-Files was inspired by earlier television series which featured elements of suspense and speculative fiction, including The Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, Tales from the Darkside, Twin Peaks, and especially Kolchak: The Night Stalker. When creating the main characters, Carter sought to reverse gender stereotypes by making Mulder a believer and Scully a skeptic. The first seven seasons featured Duchovny and Anderson equally. In the eighth and ninth seasons, Anderson took precedence while Duchovny appeared intermittently. New main characters were introduced: FBI agents John Doggett (Robert Patrick) and Monica Reyes (Annabeth Gish). Mulder and Scully's boss, Assistant Director Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi), also became a main character. The first five seasons of The X-Files were filmed and produced in Vancouver, British Columbia, before eventually moving to Los Angeles to accommodate Duchovny. The series later returned to Vancouver to film The X-Files: I Want to Believe as well as the tenth and eleventh seasons of the series.
The X-Files was a hit for the Fox network and received largely positive reviews, although its long-term story arc was criticized near the conclusion. Initially considered a cult series, it turned into a pop culture touchstone that tapped into public mistrust of governments and large institutions and embraced conspiracy theories and spirituality. Both the series itself and lead actors Duchovny and Anderson received multiple awards and nominations, and by its conclusion the show was the longest-running science fiction series in U.S. television history. The series also spawned a franchise which includes Millennium and The Lone Gunmen spin-offs, two theatrical films and accompanying merchandise.
| The X-Files TV series | ||
|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | Pilot • Deep Throat • Squeeze • Conduit • The Jersey Devil • Shadows • Ghost in the Machine • Ice • Space • Fallen Angel • Eve • Fire • Beyond the Sea • Gender Bender • Lazarus • Young at Heart • E.B.E. • Miracle Man • Shapes • Darkness Falls • Tooms • Born Again • Roland • The Erlenmeyer Flask | |
| Season 2 | Little Green Men • The Host • Blood • Sleepless • Duane Barry • Ascension • 3 • One Breath • Firewalker • Red Museum • Excelsis Dei • Aubrey • Irresistible • Die Hand Die Verletzt • Fresh Bones • Colony • End Game • Fearful Symmetry • Død Kalm • Humbug • The Calusari • F. Emasculata • Soft Light • Our Town • Anasazi | |
| Season 3 | The Blessing Way • Paper Clip • D.P.O. • Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose • The List • 2Shy • The Walk • Oubliette • Nisei • 731 • Revelations • War of the Coprophages • Syzygy • Grotesque • Piper Maru • Apocrypha • Pusher • Teso Dos Bichos • Hell Money • Jose Chung's From Outer Space • Avatar • Quagmire • Wetwired • Talitha Cumi | |
| Season 4 | Herrenvolk • Home • Teliko • Unruhe • The Field Where I Died • Sanguinarium • Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man • Tunguska • Terma • Paper Hearts • El Mundo Gira • Leonard Betts • Never Again • Memento Mori • Kaddish • Unrequited • Tempus Fugit • Max • Synchrony • Small Potatoes • Zero Sum • elegy • Demons • Gethsemane | |
| Season 5 | Redux • Redux II • Unusual Suspects • Detour • The Post-Modern Prometheus • Christmas Carol • Emily • Kitsunegari • Schizogeny • Chinga • Kill Switch • Bad Blood • Patient X • The Red and the Black • Travelers • Mind's Eye • All Souls • The Pine bluff Variant • Folie à Deux • The End | |
| Season 6 | The Beginning • Drive • Triangle • Dreamland • Dreamland II • How the Ghosts Stole Christmas • Terms of Endearment • The Rain King • S. R. 819 • Tithonus • Two Fathers • One Son • Agua Mala • Monday • Arcadia • Alpha • Trevor • Milagro • The Unnatural • Three of a Kind • Field Trip • Biogenesis | |
| Season 7 | The Sixth Extinction • The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati • Hungry • Millennium • Rush • The Goldberg Variation • Orison • The Amazing Maleeni • Signs and Wonders • Sein und Zeit • Closure • X-Cops • First Person Shooter • Theef • En Ami • Chimera • all things • Brand X • Hollywood A. D. • Fight Club • Je Souhaite • Requiem | |
| Season 8 | Within • Without • Patience • Roadrunners • Invocation • Redrum • Via Negativa • Surekill • Salvage • Badlaa • The Gift • Medusa • Per Manum • This Is Not Happening • Deadalive • Three Words • Empedocies • Vienen • Alone • Essence • Existence | |
| Season 9 | Nothing Important Happened Today • Nothing Important Happened Today II • Dæmonicus • 4-D • Lord of the Flies • Trust No 1 • Joe Doe • Hellbound • Provenance • Providence • Audrey Pauley • Underneath • Improbable • Scary Monsters • Jump the Shark • William • Release • Sunshine Days • The Truth (Part 1) • The Truth (Part 2) | |
| Season 10 | My Struggle • Founders Mutation • Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster • Home Again • Babylon • My Struggle II | |
| Season 11 | My Struggle III • This • Plus One • The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat • Ghouli • Kitten • Rm9sbG93ZXJz • Familiar • Nothing Lasts Forever • My Struggle IV | |