Chris Carter says The X-Files could still have life without Gillian Anderson

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

I don't know about you, but I'm finding the current 11th season of The X-Files to be, for the most part, a vast improvement over the previous season. Sure, it's not quite up to the levels of excellence that the series experienced during its glory days, but I'm having a lot of fun with it, which could be a good thing as it's likely that this may prove to be the series' final season. In addition to declining ratings, Gillian Anderson has also announced that she's stepping away from the series. That seems to spell the end of The X-Files, especially as series creator Chris Carter previously said, "For me, the show has always been Mulder & Scully. So the idea of doing the show without her isn't something I've ever had to consider." During a recent interview with Digital Spy, it seems that Carter has at least begun considering what a Scully-less X-Files might be like.

Production on The X-Files 11th season wrapped up last week, and when Chris Carter commented that he was "sorry to see it go," he was asked whether this was truly the end of the series.

I don't know. I think that certainly The X-Files has more life in it, there are more stories to tell, with Gillian or without. I'm sorry to see her go, I've never actually considered doing this show without her, so is this the end? It's the end of something, I don't know if it's the beginning of something new. But certainly we will have to all put our heads together and figure out where to go from here.

Assuming 20th Century Fox does want more from The X-Files, I can't imagine that Chris Carter would refuse, especially as the building blocks for the possible continuation of the series without Mulder and Scully are already there in Agent Einstein (Lauren Ambrose) and Agent Miller (Robbie Amell). Carter added that he wasn't aware that Anderson was going to announce her X-Files retirement, but admitted that he's been wondering for quite some time just "how long David and Gillian really wanted to do this show after doing it for 25 years. They've played these characters, considering all the material that ended up on the cutting room floor, for probably 6-7,000 hours of their lives.That's a whole lot of time and so considering that and considering that they're still relatively young folk, I'm sure they have other things they want to do." Should The X-Files continue without Gillian Anderson, Carter teased that it could take a page out of season 8 & 9's playbook, where Mulder was absent for much of the time.

I always thought of David the way I thought about the child William [Mulder and Scully's child], as an absent centre. Even when he wasn't there, he was the centre of everyone's concern, and the stories revolved around him. I think that's an interesting problem for storytellers and I think that if The X-Files is to go forward then Scully would be a similar absent centre.

The X-Files returns this Wednesday with "Kitten," which guest-stars Haley Joel Osment (THE SIXTH SENSE) and focuses on Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) as he "goes AWOL when his past comes back to haunt him. As Mulder and Scully try to track him down, their growing mistrust of him reaches its apex."

Is there a future for The X-Files without Gillian Anderson (and David Duchovny) or should the current season be the last?