The X-Files
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Australian Media
February 2000



Juice, February 2000

X-Files Goes Geek
The X-Files has spawned a new series based on the television show’s resident dorks, the Lone Gunmen. The Mulder-worshipping conspiracy theorists Byers, Frohike and Langley, will star in their own series produced by X-Files creator Chris Carter. The show is set to be a comedy drama, featuring a competing theorist in the form of a gorgeous woman who the geeks lust after. X-files fans are thrilled with the popular Lone Gunmen’s own show, but are nervous about the future of the main Mulder and Scully show. The X-Files network Fox has given the show a 50-50 chance of surviving next season, with David Duchovny’s contract up this season and the star suing Fox over a syndication deal. Co-star Gillian Anderson is said to be keen to retire from the show but is still bound by contract to appear next season. It won’t be the end – both have committed themselves to further X-Files movies.



TV Week, February 5 2000

Time to say farewell

After almost a year of speculation about the future of The X-Files, Gillian Anderson confirms that Fox Mulder and Dana Scully will film their final episodes in the next few weeks.

Gillian Anderson has broken the silence and revealed that The X-Files is over. According to the red-headed actress who plays Dana Scully in the Network Ten series, the last episode will be taped in April, at the end of its seventh season.

"We will not be here for an eighth season, so it's a matter of mourning the end and this will be very emotional," Gillian tells TV WEEK, confirming what has been widely tipped by the series fans.

When it's pointed out that she has an eight-year deal with producers 20th Century Fox -- unlike seven -- year contracts for creator/producer Chris Carter and co-star David Duchovny (Fox Mulder) -- and could be forced to continue without them, Gillian responds carefully "I do, but I will not be doing an eighth season," she says.

"Seeing how the seasons have progressed, and seeing where we all are in our lives and in the life of the show as a whole, it makes sense to me that we've done our best years -- and I hope that it makes sense to others. We've done the best we can do, and we should be proud of what we've done. Everybody's attention is starting to wax and wane away from the central focus. The most beneficial thing for the series, to keep it in good form, is to go out on a high while we have the strength and the commitment to do it."

"I personally don't know if -- physically, emotionally, spiritually -- I could do another season and show up and put in 100 per cent," Gillian confesses. "When people have to show up and feel that they are doing it for insane reasons, I hope those involved in making that decision see clearly in that direction as well."

What the 31-year-old actress is really saying is that, despite her contract, she has no intention of returning to the role of another season.

Gillian feels that the powers-that-be won't call her bluff, because neither she nor David want to continue the series. However, both are interested in the continuation of the X-Files movie franchise, following the success of its first spin-off film in 1998.

"I understand that Fox and Chris Carter are both still interested in doing films, and to me that sounds like a wonderful way for us to go on," Gillian says.

"I also heard they may do an animated series, although I don't know who interested Chris is in that idea. But I think it would be great to have a Mulder-and-Scully animated series, and then we could come in once in a while and just do the voices!"

There has been trouble brewing behind the scenes of The X-Files for some time, including ongoing conflict between the series two main stars and a lawsuit that has created tension all round.

Even now, when Gillian, the mother of five-year-old Piper, is asked if new dad David has sought any parenting tips, she pauses.

"The day he ever asks me for a tip, I will buy you a humvee (an ultra-expensive army-style vehicle favored by stars like Arnold Schwarzenegger)" she responds.

But wouldn't their conversation be more about parenting since life has changed in that area?

"What conversations?" she replies with a shrug.. "We go to work and do our work, and that's the way it's always been. We both have our individual support systems and don't find a need to have to get anything from the other, and that's fine."

While Chris Carter confirms that 20th Century Fox has approached him about the possibility of extending his involvement with The X-Files, it hinges on whether the show's stars want to stay -- and David Duchovny, like Gillian, doesn't.

"Barring any kind of amazingly tricky time commitment that they could get out of me for the next year, I don't think it will happen," David told TV Week on our recent visit to The X-Files set in LA.

The other major nail on the coffin for the show is David's lawsuit against 20th Century Fox, filed in August last year, in which he claimed he was being cheated out of millions of dollars of his share of the show's profits because Fox sold syndication rights to its own affiliate stations across the US for less than the fair market price.

David also accused Chris of being paid "hush money" by Fox to maintain the conspiracy against him, and insiders say this has left such bad blood between the pair that they have not spoken or been in a room together since the suit was filed.

As The X-Files counts down towards its conclusion, a nostalgic Gillian looks back at the scared, unknown 24-year-old actress who became Dana Scully in 1993.

"It has been the most challenging, fortunate, perfect experience in all its imperfections that I could have dreamed of being involved in," she believes.

"To have the chance to play one of these two amazing characters and be involved in something that has a very strong place in the history of television is remarkable."

And what about Scully and Mulder having a happy ending? Gillian won't say, but David isn't convinced.

"I think it's a tricky question for everybody to address," he says. "If we're going off to make The X-Files movies, I don't think Chris Carter will want to resolve the relationship in any huge climatic way on the TV series.

"I don't think there's an easy way out for the writers in any case. They will have a few tough calls as we get towards the end of the series. All I can say is that I look forward to seeing those last few scripts."

Transcribed by Cath



The X-Files is © 20th Century Fox


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