Mythology of The X-Files

A supposed UFO seen in Passoria, New Jersey. Much of the shows mythology centers around alien existence and their plans to colonize Earth.

"Two men, young, idealistic - the fine product of a generation hardened by world war. Two fathers whose paths would converge in a new battle - an invisible war between a silent enemy and a sleeping giant on a scale to dwarf all historical conflicts. A 50-years war, its killing fields lying in wait for the inevitable global holocaust. Theirs was the dawn of Armageddon. And while the world was unaware, unwitting spectators to the [...] decades-long struggle between heaven and earth there were those who prepared for the end; who measured the size and power of the enemy, and faced the choices: stand and fight, or bow to the will of a fearsome enemy. Or to surrender - to yield and collaborate. To save themselves and stay their enemy's hand. Men who believed that victory was the absence of defeat and survival the ultimate ideology... No matter what the sacrifice."

– Fox Mulder in "One Son"

The mythology of The X-Files, sometimes referred to as its mytharc by the show's staff and fans, follows the quest of FBI Special Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny), a believer in supernatural phenomena, and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), his skeptical partner. Their boss, FBI Assistant Director Walter Skinner was also often involved. Beginning with season 8, another skeptic named John Doggett, and Monica Reyes, a believer like Mulder, were also introduced. The overarching story, which spans events as early as the 1940s, is built around a government conspiracy to hide the truth about alien existence and their doomsday plan. Not all episodes advanced the mythology plot, but the ones that did were often set up by Mulder via an opening monologue.

Most mythological elements in The X-Files relate to extraterrestrial beings, referred to by the writers as "Colonists," whose primary goal is to colonize Earth. Late in the series, this was revealed to have been planned for the year 2012.

Chronology

Season 1

See also: The X-Files (season 1)

Prior to the events of the series, the X-Files—a collection of cases deemed unsolvable by the FBI—were investigated solely by Agent Fox Mulder (David Duchovny). In an attempt to debunk Mulder's work, FBI Division Chief Scott Blevins assigned Agent Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) to the X-Files as Mulder's partner. The Smoking Man (William B. Davis), a mysterious government figure, attended Scully's initial meeting with Blevins. Mulder and Scully's first case together involved a series of alien abductions in Bellefleur, Oregon. While investigating the case, Mulder explained his motivation to Scully; he became obsessed with aliens after the mysterious disappearance of his younger sister, Samantha, in 1973. It has only been due to his connections in Congress that he was able to continue his work on the highly unorthodox X-Files. The agents' investigation revealed that the aliens were removing evidence of their experiments by controlling a paralyzed abductee, Billy Miles, who eventually recovered and testified about his experiences.^[1]

During their first year together, Mulder and Scully investigated a variety of cases involving extraterrestrial phenomena. While looking into the disappearance of an Air Force pilot in Idaho, Mulder was approached by a mysterious man that Mulder called "Deep Throat". He claimed to have an interest in Mulder's work, becoming his informant from that point onwards.^[2] The agents also investigated the abduction of a woman in Iowa,^[3] and the cover-up of a UFO crash in Wisconsin. During the latter investigation, they met Max Fenig, a multiple abductee.^[4] Mulder's actions on this case prompted Section Chief McGrath to shut down the X-Files, but his decision was vetoed by Deep Throat. However, Deep Throat's trust was tested after he lied to him regarding an investigation involving a captured extraterrestrial. During this case, Mulder introduces Scully to The Lone Gunmen, an extreme government watchdog group.^[5]

Based on a tip from Deep Throat they discover experimentation involving the creation of alien-human hybrids in Gaithersburg, Maryland. A mysterious assassin starts killing all those involved and captures Mulder. To save Mulder, Deep Throat helps Scully steal an alien fetus from Fort Marlene, Maryland. While Mulder's captors make the exchange, Deep Throat is killed. Shortly afterward, the X-Files is shut down by Mulder and Scully's new boss, Assistant Director Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi).^[6]

Season 2

See also: The X-Files (season 2)

Scully is reassigned to teach at the FBI Academy while Mulder is given lowly surveillance assignments. After he investigates of extraterrestrial cases at Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, ^[7], Mulder is given a new partner, Alex Krycek (Nicholas Lea), and meets a new informant, X (Steven Williams).^[8] Mulder is recruited to assist in a hostage negotiation crisis when Duane Barry, an alien abductee, holds four people hostage. When Barry is captured, an alien implant is removed from his body, which Mulder provides to Scully for further analysis.^[9] Barry escapes from the hospital and kidnaps Scully, believing that if he brings her to the original abduction site, Skyland Mountain, the aliens will take her instead of him. Mulder heads there but is delayed by Krycek, who is revealed to be an agent working for the Cigarette Smoking Man (William B. Davis). By the time Mulder makes it to the top of the mountain Scully is gone. Barry, who insists that aliens took her dies soon afterward following an interrogation by Krycek. When Krycek vanishes, Skinner re-opens the X-Files, claiming that's what the conspirators will fear most.^[10]

Scully turns up comatose in a hospital three months later close to death with no explanation about how she got there. Mulder is insistent that the Cigarette Smoking Man is to blame for what happened to Scully, and using a go-between, Skinner provides him with his address. Mulder confronts the Cigarette Smoking Man at gunpoint but is convinced that he'll never know the truth if he kills him. Mulder tenders his resignation but is convinced by Skinner not to do so, who relates to him a paranormal experience he had during Vietnam. Mulder is provided the ability to get revenge on Scully's captors by X, but is convinced by Scully's sister Melissa to visit her at bedside instead. Scully recovers and returns to work shortly afterwards.^[11] The agents later investigate a case involving alien biology being injected into teenagers in Wisconsin, and once again they encounter Deep Throat's killer, who is killed by the local sheriff.^[12]

When investigating a case involving the murder of identical doctors, the agents come across a shapeshifting Alien Bounty Hunter (Brian Thompson) responsible for executing a series of alien clones. During this case a grown woman claiming to be Mulder's sister Samantha appears, telling Mulder of the Bounty Hunter's objectives and that she has the ability to identify him.^[13] When Scully is kidnapped by the Bounty Hunter, Mulder is forced to trade Samantha for her. After a botched assassination attempt on the Bounty Hunter, Samantha falls into a river and is killed. It is soon however revealed that the Samantha Mulder encountered was actually one of many alien clones of Samantha, the remainder of whom are killed by the Bounty Hunter as well. Through the help of X, Mulder pursues the Bounty Hunter to a submarine in the Arctic. Mulder is nearly killed when he is exposed to the Bounty Hunter's toxic blood, but is saved by Scully.^[14]

The fourth Lone Gunman, the Thinker, hacks into the Department of Defense's files, copying decades worth of classified information on aliens onto a digital tape that he gives to Mulder. Mulder angrily finds that the entire tape is encrypted in Navajo and attacks Skinner when he talks to him about the matter. The Cigarette Smoking Man begins a frantic search for the tape and visits Mulder's father, who calls Mulder to see him shortly afterwards. Before he can reveal anything to Mulder however, he is murdered by Alex Krycek. Mulder, who has been showing increasingly erratic behavior due to his water being spiked with LSD, confronts Krycek near his apartment, but Scully, fearing that Mulder will be blamed for his father's murder if he kills him, shoots Mulder instead. Scully brings Mulder to New Mexico where she introduces him to Albert Hosteen, a code-talker who can translate the digital tape. Albert's grandson shows Mulder a boxcar filled with alien-like corpses. The Cigarette Smoking Man tracks Mulder's location however and orders the boxcar burned.^[15]

Season 3

See also: The X-Files (season 3)

With Mulder missing, Scully returns to Washington, where she is suspended for failing to attend an OPR meeting concerning Mulder's behavior. While passing through the metal detector at FBI Headquarters it goes off, causing her to discover a small metallic chip that is removed from the base of her neck. The Cigarette Smoking Man is grilled on the digital tape by his superiors, a group of old men known as the Syndicate. Mulder's unconscious body is found near the boxcar and is nursed back to health by the Blessing Way chant performed by Albert Hosteen (Floyd "Red Crow" Westerman). Scully is approached by one of the Syndicate members, known as the Well-Manicured Man (John Neville), who warns her that she is going to be killed, either in her apartment or by someone she trusts. Scully believes this to be Skinner, but he instead reveals that he has possession of the digital tape, which he had stolen from the agent's office. Scully's sister is mistakenly killed in Scully's apartment by Krycek and Luis Cardinal.^[16] Mulder returns to Washington and along with Scully track down a Victor Klemper, who reveals to them the location of a mining facility where the agents find an elaborate filing system tracking smallpox records. Returning to Klemper's home they are met by the Well Manicured Man who claims the data was collected by people like his father during the Cold War. Realizing the true intent of its use, Bill Mulder (Peter Donat) threatened to go public so Samantha was taken to keep him quiet. Skinner hopes to exchange the digital tape for Mulder and Scully's reinstatement, but it is stolen from him by Krycek, who narrowly escapes a car bomb meant to kill him. Skinner is still able to get Mulder and Scully reinstated however by convincing the Cigarette Smoking Man that Hosteen and other Navajos memorized the contents of it.^[17]

After purchasing an alien autopsy video, Mulder captures a Japanese diplomat suspected of murdering the video's maker. Although forced to let him go, Mulder holds onto a satchel he was carrying, leading him to a ship, the Talapus, that he believes has salvaged a U.F.O. Meanwhile Scully finds a group of women who all claim to be alien abductees and claim that they recognize her. Mulder obtains a photo of World War II Japanese scientists, one of whom Scully recognizes, that he believes may be transporting an alien-human hybrid on a train.^[18] Mulder manages to get aboard the train, and is locked in a train car containing the hybrid with an assassin and a bomb soon set to go off. Meanwhile Scully is confronted by another member of the Syndicate known as the First Elder (Don S. Williams), who claims during her abduction she was placed on a similar train car and experimented upon by the Japanese scientists. Mulder is saved from the traincar by X, who pulls him out seconds before it explodes.^[19]

A diver on a French vessel is possessed by an alien creature taking the form of black oil. When the remainder of the crew ends up in the hospital with radiation burns, Mulder and Scully investigate. While Scully visits with an old friend of her father's who was investigating the same thing as the French vessel during World War II, Mulder tracks down the source for the French vessel to a salvage broker who was buying government secrets on U.F.O.s from Alex Krycek, who was selling the contents of the digital tape. Meanwhile the black oil transfers to the diver's wife, then to Krycek just as Mulder captures him.^[20] Mulder attempts to get the digital tape from Krycek, but Krycek escapes and turns it over to the Cigarette Smoking Man instead in exchange for the location of the salvaged U.F.O.. Meanwhile, Skinner is shot by Cardinal for looking into why the murder case on Scully's sister was terminated. By protecting Skinner Scully is able to get her hands on her sister's killer. The agents track down the location of the salvaged U.F.O. to an abandoned missile silo but are stopped by the Cigarette Smoking Man. Meanwhile the alien exits Krycek and returns to its ship, resulting in him being locked in the silo.^[21] The Syndicate would later attempt to discredit Skinner as an aide to the agents by staging and framing him for the murder of a prostitute in a hotel room. With the assistance of Mulder and Scully, Skinner is able to prove his innocence and ultimately kill the culprits after an apparent supernatural mediation with an ethereal manifestation that has occupied his dreams since a near death experience in Vietnam.

Season 4

See also: The X-Files (season 4)

Season 5

See also: The X-Files (season 5)

Season 6

See also: The X-Files (season 6)

Season 7

See also: The X-Files (season 7)

After the events of the season six finale, Walter Skinner and Michael Kritschgau are desperately attempting to find the truth behind the so-called alien object. Meanwhile, Fox Mulder is still imprisoned by his own frenetic brain activity. Dana Scully and Skinner are unaware of FBI Special Agent Diana Fowley's duplicity - she is working for the Cigarette Smoking Man. Scully then travels to Africa to unravel the secrets of the alien artifacts, finding something that looks like a buried spaceship buried on the Ivory Coast. The object may prove that life originated elsewhere, and all religion is based on the Navajo contact with alien life.^[22] Unsuccessful, Scully returns from Africa to revisit Mulder in Washington, D.C., but instead she finds out that he has disappeared. She contacts Kritschgau and Skinner (who is forced into betrayal by Alex Krycek) to find her partner. The Cigarette Smoking Man has taken Mulder to a place where all his problems seem to have disappeared. Fowley helps Scully locate Mulder, which leads to her death at the hands of the Cigarette Smoking Man.^[23]

While investigating a bizarre disappearance of a young girl from her home, Mulder becomes obsessed with the number of children who have vanished in similar circumstances. Scully fears that he is emotionally involved due to his sister’s disappearance.^[24] At the same time it is revealed to him that his mother, Teena Mulder, committed suicide. He then tries to prove that his mother did not take her own life, but is ultimately forced to accept that his mother's death was by her own hand. He is led by a man whose son disappeared years earlier to another truth - that his sister may be among the souls taken by "walk-ins", saving the souls of children doomed to live unhappy lives. Together they locate evidence that proves that Samantha was abducted by the Cigarette Smoking Man, and was forced to live in a now abandoned US Army base. It is later revealed that Samantha had become a "walk-in" spirit.^[25]

After a young boy with cancer (whose parents refuse medical treatment because it opposes God's will) recovers miraculously, Scully is intrigued. What she soon discovers is that his cure is not miraculous, but scientific - the work of the Cigarette Smoking Man. Eager, if wary, to learn of the truth behind his secrets, Scully agrees to travel with him to acquire the cure to all mankind's diseases - but is forbidden to tell Mulder. Scully is met by a man named only as the "Cobra" who is willing to give her the cure, but is instead shot dead by the Black-Haired Man. Mulder is then able to contact Scully, but is too late as the Cigarette Smoking Man has destroyed the cure and all evidence of it.^[26]

Mulder and Scully investigate a case which leads them back to Oregon, as in the pilot episode. With a series of Alien abductions taking place, Mulder and Scully are contacted by Billy Miles. Scully falls ill during the investigation and returns to Washington, D.C. The Cigarette Smoking Man contacts Marita Covarrubias and Krycek (after having him incarcerated in a Tunisian prison), in an attempt to revive the government conspiracy. With Covarrubias unwilling to assist, and Krycek seeking revenge, they contact Mulder after he visits an alien crash site. Skinner and Mulder return to Oregon, while Scully is hospitalized in Washington, D.C. Mulder becomes trapped by an alien device, and is abducted by an Alien Bounty Hunter together with Miles and several others. Skinner returns to Washington, D.C. where Scully informs him that she is pregnant.^[27]

Season 8

See also: The X-Files (season 8)

Scully meets John Doggett (Robert Patrick), the leader of an FBI taskforce organized to conduct a search for Mulder.^[28] Although the search ultimately proves unsuccessful, Doggett is assigned to the X-files and works with Scully to look for explanations to several cases.^[29] When Scully learns that several women have reportedly been abducted and impregnated with alien babies, she begins to question her own pregnancy and fears for her unborn child.^[30]

Doggett introduces Scully to Monica Reyes (Annabeth Gish), an FBI specialist in ritualistic crime, shortly before Mulder's deceased body suddenly appears in a forest at night.^[31] Following Mulder's funeral, Skinner is threatened by Krycek that he must kill Scully's baby before it is born. Miles, a multiple abductee who disappeared on the same night as Mulder, is returned deceased but his dead body is resurrected and restored to full health.^[32] Mulder also returns from death, with Scully supervising his recovery. Fully rejuvenated, Mulder investigates several X-files, against orders to do so, but soon gets fired, leaving Doggett in charge of the cases. Mulder continues to provide input on an unofficial capacity. With Scully on maternity leave, Doggett is assigned a new partner, an inexperienced agent who is obsessed with the X-files, but the relationship is only temporary.^[33]

Reluctantly accepting Krycek's assistance, Mulder, Doggett and Skinner learn that an alien virus recently created in secret by members of the United States government has replaced several humans, including Miles and several high-ranking FBI personnel, with so-called alien "Super Soldiers". Krycek claims that the soldiers are virtually unstoppable aliens who want to make sure that humans will not survive the colonization of Earth. They have learned that Scully's baby is a miraculously special child and are afraid that it may be greater than them. They have only recently learned of the baby's importance, which is why Krycek told Skinner to kill the unborn child earlier.^[34] When Miles arrives at the FBI Headquarters, Mulder, Doggett, Skinner and Krycek help Scully to escape with Special Agent Reyes who drives her to a remote farm. Shortly after Skinner kills Krycek, Scully delivers an apparently normal baby while the alien supersoldiers surround her. Without explanation, the aliens leave the area as Mulder arrives. While Doggett and Reyes report to the FBI Headquarters, Mulder takes Scully and her newborn baby back to her apartment.^[35]

Season 9

See also: The X-Files (season 9)

After the events of the season eight finale, Mulder goes into hiding. Scully is again re-assigned to the FBI Academy and Reyes becomes Doggett's new FBI partner at the X-Files office. Doggett asks Scully for help on a case involving an EPA official who died after his car was forced off a bridge by a woman he picked up. The unknown woman's identity is later found out, Shannon McMahon, being one of Doggett's former Marine associates. She reveals to Doggett that she is a "Super Soldier". This leads them to a clandestine laboratory where a secret experiment is taking place on board on a naval ship. They later find connections with the experiments on the ship to Scully's child, William^[36]

Hopeful about reuniting with Mulder, a complete stranger offers his service to drive Mulder out of hiding. Scully takes the offer, but unknowingly gets herself and Mulder in even more danger. The "Shadow Man", a government agent follows Scully. It is then known that he is a "Super Soldier" bent on killing Scully and Mulder. As confirmed in this episode, a "Super Soldiers" only weakness is magnetite, which leads to the death of the "Shadow Man".^[37] Later on, Scully, Doggett and Reyes find evidence of a dangerous UFO cult which has found a second spacecraft similar to one Scully studied in Africa two years ago (as seen in "The Sixth Extinction"). Misled by the FBI, the agents enlist the help of The Lone Gunmen to protect Scully's son after they learn that the UFO cult apparently intend to kill the child.^[38] Doggett's gets run over by a car, leading him to be sent to the local hospital. As Brad Follmer (Cary Elwes) and the Toothpick Man (Alan Dale) are trying to uncover the plans of the three agents, Scully and Reyes leaves Washington, D.C. to find Scully's son.^[39]

Doggett finds a strange disfigured man in the X-Files office; believing he is Mulder, they test his DNA. The DNA test reveals him to have the same DNA pattern as Mulder. The disfigured man sticks a needle into William, which the other agents believe to be a virus of somekind. But is later revealed to be a cure for William's powers. The unnamed man is later revealed to be Jeffrey Spender (Chris Owens), Mulder's half-brother.^[40] Mulder returns from hiding to only be discovered looking for classified information at an army base and, after allegedly killing an apparently indestructible "Super Soldier", he is placed on trial to defend the X-files and himself. But with the help of Kersh, Scully, Reyes, Doggett, Spender, Marita Covarrubias (Laurie Holden) and Gibson Praise, Mulder breaks out. Mulder and Scully travels to New Mexico to find an old "wise man", who is later revealed to be the Cigarette Smoking Man (William B. Davis). The Smoking Man is later killed by commands from Knowle Rohrer (Adam Baldwin).^[41]

Production

Conception and early work

Spotnitz and Carter, the main writers for the show's mythology episodes.

At the beginning, Chris Carter did not think of creating a "mythology" for the episodes focusing on extraterrestrial life, because "they were just stories we wanted to tell," which involved Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) on his personal quest joined in with his partner, Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson). Eventually, the writers saw that the most "personal" episodes were the ones centering on the government conspiracy. Another reason for the development of the mythology, was that the producers were afraid of not creating a thread between the episodes centering around the conspiracy, being that they felt it would be pretentious if they did not do it.^[42]

According to Carter, the mythology "sprung from" the pilot episode and its follow up, "Deep Throat", which set up the idea that aliens had been around for many years. Carter sees the final scene of "Deep Throat" as the "launching moment for the entire mythology". The main theme for the show starts with these episodes, being Mulder's quest to find "the truth" about his sister, Samantha Mulder. Mulder's quest for the truth helped build the mythology, since his investigation took him into cases about the paranormal.^[42]

After a series of stand-alone episodes featuring UFOs and extraterrestrials early in the first season, the show's mythology developed largely based on the pregnancy of actress Gillian Anderson, who became pregnant midway through the first season. Executive producer Frank Spotnitz described it as "the best thing that ever happened to the series.", also saying "This mythology really ended up running through the life of the series, all because Gillian Anderson became pregnant".^[43] Although there were initially thoughts about Scully (Anderson) giving birth to an alien baby, ultimately the writers decided to work around Anderson's pregnancy. The writers decided on closing the X-Files at the end of the season to separate Mulder and Scully from one another, and have Scully abducted, who would later reappear in a coma.^[44] In addition to the creation of the storyline concerning Scully's abduction, Anderson's reduced role in the first half of the second season permitted the writers to develop some of the other characters in the show including Assistant Director Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi), The Smoking Man (William B. Davis) and X (Steven Williams), and resulted in the introduction of the character Alex Krycek (Nicholas Lea).^[45] Krycek, who was initially created by writer Howard Gordon to temporarily replace Scully as Mulder's partner for three episodes eventually grew into a character that lasted seven seasons on the show.^[43]

Creation of mythology characters

Main article: List of The X-Files characters

Spotnitz at the April 2008 New York Comic Con

Prior to the season two episode, "One Breath" the "Cigarette Smoking Man" mostly "lurked around in the shadows" and smoked cigarettes. The Smoking Man uttered only four audible words in the entire first season of the show, all of them being in "Tooms". R.W. Goodwin did not trust William B. Davis to take on the part as arch-nemesis to Fox Mulder. It was later revealed to the producers that Davis was running an acting school, and teaching such actors as Lucy Lawless, who would make an appearance in the ninth season.^[42]

In the two-part episodes "Colony" and "End Game", Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz along with some help from David Duchovny created what would become a recurring character named the Alien Bounty Hunter. According to Carter, Duchovny came to him and said "it be great if we had like an alien bounty hunter?" Carter was positive towards the idea.^[42] The actor, Brian Thompson, auditioned for the role in a casting session, where he was competing with another actor. Spotnitz and Carter had not much time to cast this character, but they knew this casting would be important since they intended the character to become a recurring character. Thompson was chosen according to Spotnitz because he had a very "distinctive look" about him, most notably his face and mouth. After casting him, they told Thompson's agent that he needed a hair cut, because he was originally envisioned as a US Air Force pilot who'd been shot down. When Thompson came to Vancouver, Canada there had been some "misunderstanding" between them, and he hadn't been told of the hair cut. So the hairstyle seen in this and every episode since was a "compromise between Thompson and the producers.^[46]

Mythology development: season 3-5

"What's great about that idea is that it touches on something that everybody's done, everybody's been forced to do since we were children, get inoculated for something or other, for smallpox in this case, and to turn that into something scary is brilliant, I think, because that really means you can't trust anyone."

— John Shiban talking about the new storyline introduced with "Paper Clip".^[42]

Chris Carter admits that David Duchovny was very involved in shaping the show's mythology. His first notable efforts were "End Game" and "Anasazi". After writing the episode, Carter met up with a man who watched over the show by the Fox Network. He wanted the show to explain the paranormal phenomena in each episode. Carter responded with: "the interesting part about this for me was going to be telling stories where you left people wondering at the end, with the possibility that it could be real, but never ever stating that this is in fact the truth." "Anasazi" was the first episode of a three-parter where the writers introduced the government conspiracy arc following the Syndicate. "Paper Clip" introduced the idea of genetic material that was taken through inoculations.^[42]

At the end of season two the Black oil was introduced, which was an alien creature which invaded bodies and made them into living hosts. The Black oil was able to enter through a victim's mouth, eyes or nose; it would leave a victim's body to get back to its original form or get a new host. Later on in the show's mythology, it is discovered that the Black oil is the Colonists' lifeform; the oil was brought to Earth by meteorites to create hosts of the human population living there. The season four two-parters "Tunguska" and "Terma" hit the writers when they were trying to conceive a big and fun canvas to tell stories. So they decided to create a story which had connections to the Russian gulags, which led to a "natural" idea that the Russians were experimenting separately from the Syndicate to create a vaccine for the Black oil. Shiban felt it was natural creating an arms race-like story between the United States and Russia, being that the Cold War had ended a few years earlier.^[42]

With the season five episodes "Patient X" and "The Red and the Black", the mythology became too hard for some viewers to follow. These two episodes marked the introduction of the Alien rebels who were fighting against the Colonists for their plan to colonize the known universe. These Alien rebels were of the same race as the Alien Bounty Hunters. Cassandra (Veronica Cartwright) and Jeffrey Spender (Chris Owens) would make their first appearances in these two episodes. Two other characters, Diana Fowley (Mimi Rogers) and Gibson Praise (Jeff Gulka) were introduced to the series mythology in the season five finale, "The End".

The X-Files feature film and seasons 6-7

Season eight and "The New X-Files"

"I figured that the best way to introduce the character was exactly the way they did it, in a mythology episode. And I think it was important for Chris and Frank and my director, Kim Manners, to really establish who this guy was, John Doggett, and what he was supposed to be doing."

— Robert Patrick talking about his introduction.^[42]

The season eight premiere, "Within", started the storyline following the Super Soldiers and the search for Mulder.^[42] As Carter always believed the only way to get the audience to keep watching the show was to give them answers. So when they casted Robert Patrick as John Doggett a new lead character, since Duchovny had sued the Fox Network and Carter for more money, while wanting to leave, the court said he must appear in 12 episodes in the eighth season and then leave.^[47][48][49] When introducing Doggett into the series, they wanted to give him an enemy, this eventually led to the Super Soldiers, who rose up in "Within" to take on the role as the new government conspirators. The reason for creating a new enemy was to make sure not to just create a "new Mulder". The original idea for the Super Soldiers was that the United States Defense Department was developing genetically modified human beings, this was the non-alien explanation, while these characters eventually became the new aliens. Dana Scully took Mulder's role as a "believer" and handed her previous role as a "skeptic" to Doggett.^[42]

"In the course of a 24 episode season, you'd have 6 or 7 or 8 episodes that really told the story that promised more and more, that answered itself as it went along but then asked even more questions, and that kind of twisted back on itself. I mean, sometimes perhaps one time too many, but it turned out to be a story that captured a lot of people's imagination and that sustained for a remarkably long time."

— Howard Gordon talking about the mythology episodes.^[42]

Carter himself has admitted that the mythology became "complex" and a bit "too difficult to" follow, and even more difficult for the writers to "add more layers on to it". While saying it got "more interesting" in some ways but at the same time less interesting in some other ways, he said he understood why long-time fans of the show were discontent at seeing a "Mulderless" season, but at the same time said the new characters introduced new fans to the show who reacted positively to the changes.^[42]

Annabeth Gish's character Monica Reyes, who would become a main character in season nine, made her first appearance in "This Is Not Happening". When creating the character for the episode, they wanted to give the character a personality who had much in common with both Mulder and Scully. Her first shot was four in the morning, her first scene in the episode was to run down a hill to discover a former abductee.^[50] The character along with Skinner be moved up to main character status in the ninth season.^[51]

The original plan for season nine was to exit both Mulder, Scully and baby William out of the storyline in the following season. Season 10 would follow a storyline where the aliens were not the central focus of the mythology, since many of the writers, most notably Frank Spotnitz felt that the alien-conspiracy storyline had gone on long enough "and played itself out." Season 10 would focus on what happened to Doggett's son, Luke, and the character of Reyes.^[42]

Reception

References

Notes

1. ^ "Pilot". Robert Mandel. The X-Files. FOX. No. 1, season 1.
2. ^ "Deep Throat". Daniel Sackheim. The X-Files. FOX. No. 2, season 1.
3. ^ "Conduit". Daniel Sackheim. The X-Files. FOX. No. 4, season 1.
4. ^ "Fallen Angel". Larry Shaw. The X-Files. FOX. No. 10, season 1.
5. ^ "E.B.E.". William Graham. The X-Files. FOX. No. 17, season 1.
6. ^ "The Erlenmeyer Flask". R.W. Goodwin. The X-Files. FOX. No. 24, season 1.
7. ^ "Little Green Men". David Nutter. The X-Files. FOX. No. 1, season 2.
8. ^ "Sleepless". Rob Bowman. The X-Files. FOX. No. 4, season 2.
9. ^ "Duane Barry". Chris Carter. The X-Files. FOX. No. 5, season 2.
10. ^ "Ascension". Michael Lange. The X-Files. FOX. No. 6, season 2.
11. ^ "One Breath". R.W. Goodwin. The X-Files. FOX. No. 8, season 2.
12. ^ "Red Museum". Win Phelps. The X-Files. FOX. No. 10, season 2.
13. ^ "Colony". Nick Marck. The X-Files. FOX. No. 16, season 2.
14. ^ "End Game". Rob Bowman. The X-Files. FOX. No. 17, season 2.
15. ^ "Anasazi". R.W. Goodwin. The X-Files. FOX. No. 25, season 2.
16. ^ "The Blessing Way". R.W. Goodwin. The X-Files. FOX. No. 1, season 3.
17. ^ "Paper Clip". Rob Bowman. The X-Files. FOX. No. 2, season 3.
18. ^ "Nisei". David Nutter. The X-Files. FOX. No. 9, season 3.
19. ^ "731". Rob Bowman. The X-Files. FOX. No. 10, season 3.
20. ^ "Piper Maru". Rob Bowman. The X-Files. FOX. No. 15, season 3.
21. ^ "Apocrypha". Kim Manners. The X-Files. FOX. No. 16, season 3.
22. ^ "The Sixth Extinction". Kim Manners, Writ. Chris Carter. The X-Files. FOX. No. 1, season 7.
23. ^ "The Sixth Extinction: Amor Fati". Michael W. Watkins, Writ. Chris Carter & David Duchovny. The X-Files. FOX. No. 2, season 7.
24. ^ "Zein und Zeit". Michael W. Watkins, Writ. Chris Carter & Frank Spotnitz. The X-Files. FOX. No. 10, season 7.
25. ^ "Closure". Kim Manners, Writ. Chris Carter & David Duchovny. The X-Files. FOX. No. 11, season 7.
26. ^ "En Ami". Rob Bowman, Writ. William B. Davis. The X-Files. FOX. No. 15, season 7.
27. ^ "Requiem". Kim Manners, Writ. Chris Carter. The X-Files. FOX. No. 22, season 7.
28. ^ "Within". Kim Manners, Writ. Chris Carter. The X-Files. FOX. No. 1, season 8.
29. ^ "Without". Kim Manners, Writ. Chris Carter. The X-Files. FOX. No. 2, season 8.
30. ^ "Per Manum". Kim Manners, Writ. Chris Carter. The X-Files. FOX. No. 13, season 8.
31. ^ "This Is Not Happening". Kim Manners, Writ. Chris Carter & Frank Spotnitz. The X-Files. FOX. No. 14, season 8.
32. ^ "Deadalive". Tony Wharmby, Writ. Chris Carter & Frank Spotnitz. The X-Files. FOX. No. 15, season 8.
33. ^ "Vienen". Josh Hardy, Writ. Steven Maeda. The X-Files. FOX. No. 17, season 8.
34. ^ "Essence". Kim Manners, Writ. Chris Carter. The X-Files. FOX. No. 20, season 8.
35. ^ "Existence". Kim Manners, Writ. Chris Carter. The X-Files. FOX. No. 21, season 8.
36. ^ "Nothing Important Happened Today". Kim Manners & Tony Wharmby, Writ. Chris Carter & Frank Spotnitz. The X-Files. FOX. No. 1-2, season 9.
37. ^ "Trust No 1". Tony Wharmby, Writ. Chris Carter & Frank Spotnitz. The X-Files. FOX. No. 6, season 9.
38. ^ "Provenance". Kim Manners, Writ. Chris Carter & Frank Spotnitz. The X-Files. FOX. No. 9, season 9.
39. ^ "Providence". Chris Carter, Writ. Chris Carter & Frank Spotnitz. The X-Files. FOX. No. 10, season 9.
40. ^ "William". David Duchovny, Writ. Chris Carter, Frank Spotnitz & Duchovny. The X-Files. FOX. No. 16, season 9.
41. ^ "The Truth". Kim Manners, Writ. Chris Carter. The X-Files. FOX. No. 19-20, season 9.
42. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m} Spotnitz, Frank, Carter, Chris, Shiban, John , Manners, Kim and Gordon, Howard among others (2004). Threads of Mythology (DVD). 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. 
43. ^ ^{a b} Hurwitz, Matt, Knowles, Chris (2008). The Complete X-Files. Insight Editions. p. 44. 
44. ^ Lowry,Brian (1995). The Truth is Out There: The Official Guide to the X-Files. Harper Prism. p. 24. 
45. ^ Edwards, Ted (1996). X-Files Confidential. Little, Brown and Company. p. 89. 
46. ^ Spotnitz, Frank (2005). Audio Commentary for "End Game" (DVD). FOX. 
47. ^ Germain, David (April 28, 2000). "Scully, Mulder go Hollywood in Duchovny's X-Files tale". The Associated Press. http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20000428&slug=4017840. Retrieved October 10, 2009. 
48. ^ "Duchovny quits X-Files". BBC News. May 18, 2001. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/1337685.stm. Retrieved October 10, 2009. 
49. ^ Spencer, Russ (April 28, 2000). "A close encounter with Chris Carter". Salon. http://archive.salon.com/people/feature/2000/04/28/chriscarter/print.html. Retrieved October 10, 2009. 
50. ^ Carter, Chris, Patrick, Robert, Spotnitz, Frank and Gish, Annabeth (2002). The Truth Behind Season 8 (DVD). FOX. 
51. ^ Spotnitz, Frank, Gilligan, Vince, Shiban, John, Carter, Chris, Elwes, Cary, Patrick, Robert, Manners, Kim, MacLaren, Michelle, Kaplan, Corey, Beck, Mat, Rabwin, Paul, Mungle, Matthew, Amann, David, Montesanto-Medcalf, Cheri, Wash, John, Roe, Bill and Reynolds, Burt (2002). The Truth Behind Season 9 (DVD). FOX. 

Bibliography

• Hurwitz, Matt & Knowles, Chris (2008). The Complete X-Files: Behind the Series, the Myths and the Movies. New York, US: Insight Editions. ISBN 9781933784724. http://www.buy.com/prod/the-complete-x-files-behind-the-series-the-myths-and-the-movies/q/loc/106/208071625.html. 

External links

• EatTheCorn - a site dedicated to explaining the mythology of The X-Files
• Mythology of The X-Files on The X-Files Wiki, an external wiki
• http://www.xfiles.com/
• http://www.xfilesnews.com/