Rolling Stone: Did you think The X-Files would make it?
David: I didn't think so. A show about extraterrestrials -no matter how well made- how many can you do? I didn't see the show opening up to about anything that's unexplained, which is limitless. When did you realize the show was connecting? People would come up to me and preface their comments with "I don't watch TV, but..." We're not the kind of show you watch just because you're sitting in front of a TV. We're must-see TV.
-Rolling Stone

Gillian: I think we can only make ourselves the victim. The show deals with many aspects of the paranormal, and one of the aspects it's a spiritual aspect. And that's very appealing to people. I'm less sure what intrigues people about the horror side of it, because that never appealed to me. But on a spiritual level, some of the episodes deal with the possibility of coming back to life or some sort of spiritual awakening. And that offers some hope, some way out of that fear and the pain of everyday life on this planet.
-Rolling Stone

Gillian: It's usually parents who have young kids, who will come up and say, "My son — my 4year-old — is such a big fan." I don't know how to perceive that, really, because [the show is] so scary, and I couldn't imagine my daughter having a show that she had to see every week, especially one that scared the heck out of her. I don't even know quite how to take that in. What's amazing about the show is that it reaches so many different audiences: so many different ages, so many different races, so many different cultures, so many different walks of life. It's phenomenal in that way... that it touches people.
–TV Guide

David: When people say, "Mulder and Scully are role models," I say, "Are you kidding? Mulder is a repressed workaholic, Scully is a cold, ungiving, unsmiling, angry workaholic." Jesus, Kramer is a better role model than we are. This whole shit about role models just makes me laugh.
-Details Magazine

David: The gist of the show is silly and far-fetched - two FBI agents who investigate unsolved paranormal cases that often involve aliens. And Mulder is convinced that when he was eight his sister was abducted by aliens, and has evidence they exist in the form of black oil that flows into your eyeballs and turns into worms, that there are people who morph into any character you want, that some hibernate for 50 years and then eat livers...
-Radio Times

Gillian: There was one episode where [Scully] dealt with [having cancer], then a few episodes where it wasn't really discussed. Then it was dealt with in another episode. And those episodes in between rarely brought it up, if at all. The question is, as an actor, do you gaze off sadly for a while thinking about the fact that you have cancer and you're not going to see this person again? Because there's no reference made [to the cancer], there's really no way to do that without completely confusing the audience. The relationship is a little different, because any kind of gaze can be immediately picked up by our avid fans.
-Sci-Fi Entertainment

Gillian: One of my all-time favorites now is "Bad Blood," from last season. It was fun and challenging to film and even more fun to watch, in the end.
-Sci-Fi Entertainment

Gillian: I usually don't have that many ideas for the show-I just kind of stick to my own stuff and being Mom. I have had a couple of ideas that I've broached to Chris, which were good. He never really used them as a whole-he only used parts of them in different episodes of his own. I haven't written a whole script, but I have ideas and write in other ways, and might eventually do something.
-Sci-Fi Entertainment

David: Our show began as like a Sci-Fi show or as a cop show, it never really centered on the emotional life of the character. It's always been something that Gillian and I, as actors, have been begging for. The writers gave her some stuff in the first year that have a more emotional depth and she really seized on it and I think she showed that it could work within the framework of the show.
–A&E Biography

David: I think, you know, it's a combination of the show being a really popular computer-type person show. You know, obviously she warrants the attention but I think that our show is particular popular among people that are really fast with their fingers.
–A&E

David: I'd much rather be involved in a franchise movie series than do the goddamn TV show every week.
-Entertainment Weekly

David: I try to maintain a healthy attitude about my work, but after five years it’s extremely difficult to cover the same material or find new angles to your character or to the plot without diluting the value of the series. Some time this year Gillian and I will sit down with Chris Carter and hammer everything out.
-Neon

Q: Why do Mulder and Scully never refer to each other by their first names?
David: We use them as a dramatic device.
Gillian: Because it ends up getting pretty intimate when we do. Using the name Fox sounds naughty. It seems like a step towards intimacy.
David: Next she’ll call me Fo, then just F...
-Neon