New images from The X-Files revival as well as details on its first episodes

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Production is well underway on the six-episodes of Fox's revival of The X-Files, which is currently my most anticipated television project of 2016. My hunger for details on these new X-Files stories has been ravenous to say the least and thankfully Entertainment Weekly was on-hand during the very first week of the show's return to bring us just that. Those wishing to stay completely pure will probably want to avoid the photos and details that follow, although any possible spoilers are quite mild.

Photos and details will commence on the other side.

It's been several years since we last saw Mulder and Scully in THE X-FILES: I WANT TO BELIEVE but much has changed for the two former agents. David Duchovny states that we'll find Mulder in "in a dark, dark place" when we first encounter him, to which Gillian Anderson added, "I like where we find Mulder and Scully in their relationship, I also like the area of zeitgeist that we step in to. It’s on point and raises some very interesting issues. And question marks.”

Lets check out some of the new photos courtesy of Entertainment Weekly which give us looks at David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson as Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, guest stars Annet Mahendru and Joel McHale, the title page of the first new episode, as well as Chris Carter hard at work.

As we can see from one of the above photos, the first episode of The X-Files revival will be titled "My Struggle." The episode will find Fox Mulder and Dana Scully investigating a case involving a possible alien abductee (Annet Mahendru) at the insistence of a conservative talk show host and potential ally (Joel McHale). Entertainment Weekly also corrects what many of us had assumed, that the second episode, which goes by the title "Home Again" will NOT be a sequel to "Home," the classic season four episode which dealt with inbred children. The third episode, which will come to us from The X-Files alumni Darin Morgan, is titled "Mulder and Scully Meet The Were-Man."

Those hoping for a possible return of some of the old monsters will be disappointed by what Chris Carter has to say:

We’re not going to reboot any of the old favorites, although it was something we all thought about, these are all brand new stories. We hope to scare you in brand new ways.

As fun as it would be to check in on some of the series most iconic monsters, I'd much rather see six episodes of new monsters rather than retreads at this point. There's also a chance for that should the show return for another round of episodes. Chris Carter also elaborated on how The X-Files revival will be inspired by our current political climate:

The X-Files ended right after 9/11, a lot has happened since then. A lot of rollback of rights and liberties in the name of our protection. We’re being spied on now, we’re being lied to — all things that, for me, remind me of when I grew up, which was right around Watergate. I think we’re in similar and much more dire times right now.

The X-Files will return on January 24, 2016 and you can find Entertainment Weekly's X-Files issue on the stands next Friday.