Upcoming X-Files series gets a 21-minute preview
It’s almost 2016, and if you still believe that the Truth is Out There, then you know what that means: it’s time to start catching up on The X-Files before the six episode mini revival series begins with a two night event January 24th and 25th. If it has been a few years since your last dose of The X-Files or if you’re completely new and want to get an idea of just what you’re in for when David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson team up for that sci-fi show you didn’t watch the first time, Fox has released a 21-minute preview to prepare you.
The video features interviews with the expected trio of Mulder (Duchovny), Scully (Gillian Anderson) and series creator Chris Carter talking about what it was like to return to the series so many years later. New additions to the X-Files universe like Joel McHale, Annet Mahendru, and Kumail Nanjiani also pop up to talk about how great it was to see the characters reunite to investigate the paranormal once again. Small appearances are made by William B. Davis who will appear as the Cigarette Smoking Man and X-Files writer Darin Morgan, who contributed a script for a standalone episode that appears to be a comedy monster movie riff.
Besides the ample amount of time spent talking about being back in these roles because of the fans, the special also gives the most detailed official peek at what to expect when the X-Files returns that most fans have gotten to see. Although the first episode has aired at a few small screenings with attendees sworn to secrecy, this is the first time the large Roswell crash set piece is unveiled and most people get to see that the subject of alien abduction is going to come up again (though maybe the latter was an easy element to see coming).
David Duchovny mentions that the basic framing of the X-Files allows for the show to be many different things, and by making the first and sixth episodes both “mythology” episodes and thematic echoes of each other, the other four episodes could end up being any number of things. Morgan’s episode, “Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster,” looks like it guest stars Flight of the Conchord’s Rhys Darby in some sort of story about a werewolf-like lizard monster that…attacks truckstops? The featurette doesn’t shy away from showing the lizard creature in all its practical effect glory, as well as including a snippet of a scene where Mulder and Scully question a prostitute about if the lizard wore underwear.
The first episode, a mythology one called “My Struggle” that looks Mulder-centric, airs on January 24th at 10pm Eastern on Fox. Then, on Monday the 25th at 8pm Eastern, the second episode, “Home Again” airs. The remaining episodes air on Mondays in that timeslot.
