The Truth is Still Out There

It's official: THE X-FILES is returning.

I'm a little uncertain whether or not to use an exclamation point at the end of that sentence, though. THE X-FILES is in a weird place in that it died during its creative nadir. Unlike STAR WARS, INDIANA JONES or THE GODFATHER, the series didn't exactly leave audiences wanting more when it limped to a halt 13 years ago. Most people barely remember those final seasons even happened (or that there was a second feature film.)

The show's return was announced today by Dana Walden and Gary Newman, chairmen and CEOs of Fox Television Group, and Chris Carter, creator and executive producer of THE X-FILES. Production on a new six-episode "event series" is set to begin in summer 2015

No other details about the revival have been disclosed. Mitch Pileggi damn well better be involved, though.

“I think of it as a 13-year commercial break,” said Carter. “The good news is the world has only gotten that much stranger, a perfect time to tell these six stories.”

THE X-FILES premiered in  the fall of 1993 with lukewarm support from Fox. At the start of the season the network was all about THE ADVENTURES OF BRISCOE COUNTY JR, but they proved to be fair-weather friends to the Bruce Campbell-led show. Before the end of the season, Fox had gone all-in on THE X-FILES. (So much so that Fox arguably left the show on life support a year or three longer than it should have.)

Even though the conspiracy driving the "mythology" episodes eventually led nowhere, I'm still a fan of the show, which was good (if not great) more often than not.

Carter has also been involved in THE X-FILES: SEASON 10 comic series from IDW, which claimed to be part of the same continuity as the television series. It will be interesting to see whether or not Carter chooses to ignore those books. I'm betting he will.

Via Fox.com.