Barbara Hershey joins The X-Files for a mysterious recurring role

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Production is now underway in Vancouver on what will be the eleventh season of The X-Files, and despite not loving the first installment of the revival as much as I had hoped, I'm finding it hard not to get excited for the continuing adventures of Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) and Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) as they investigate aliens, monsters, and conspiracies. Duchovny and Anderson will be back of course, as will William B. Davis, Mitch Pileggi, and Annabeth Gish, but it has now been revealed that Barbara Hershey (BLACK SWAN) will be joining the season for a mysterious recurring role.

Per Deadline, Hershey will be playing Erika Price, "a powerful figure who represents a mysterious organization." As this is The X-Files we're talking about, there's a good bet that her scenes will involve the actress spouting cyptic musings in a shadowy boardroom, perhaps with a certain cigarette smoking individual seated nearby? Or her organization could even be one which assists Mulder and Scully in their investigations. Either way, it will be a pleasure to have Barbara Hershey onboard for the ten-episode season.

Also returning will be Lauren Ambrose and Robbie Amell, who played Agents Einstein and Miller in the final two episodes of the previous season. Although it was neither confirmed nor denied, it was assumed that Chris Carter developed the characters as potential leads for an X-Files spin-off series, something to continue the franchise should David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson decide that they'd finally had enough with chasing little green men. TVLine, who broke the news, don't know how many episodes the pair will be featured in, but they will almost certainly play a role in the premiere episode as it will pick up from the cliffhanger we were left with at the close of the last season.

If the Agents weren't so clearly based on Mulder and Scully (she's the skeptic! He's the believer! Whoa!), perhaps they would have been accepted more than they were, but why would we want to see such drearily bland versions of characters we've come to love when we could have the real thing? I didn't mind Lauren Ambrose as Agent Einstein, although perhaps that's just my love of Six Feet Under rearing its head, but Robbie Amell's Agent Miller did absolutely nothing for me. If Miller and Einstein are going to continue to feature in The X-Files, and perhaps one day take over the franchise, they desperately need to become their own unique characters. Here's hoping that the duo will be slightly more bearable in the upcoming season.

What were your thoughts on Agents Miller and Einstein? Is there hope for the characters?