The X-Files Will Never Die: Season 11 Announced
It remains to be seen if 24: Legacy and the Prison Break revival will stick (the ratings numbers say they won’t), but Fox’s X-Files is the show that wouldn’t die. The show returned with six new episodes last year, and it’s just been given ten more. David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson will once again be back in black, investigating dangerous otherworldly phenomena while an ad-libbed government conspiracy continues to retcon itself.
Whether this season will be good or not depends on how involved its creator is. The series wouldn’t exist without Chris Carter, but his talents have dulled significantly in his later years, and he’s become his own franchise’s worst enemy. While Season 10 delivered one of the best episodes in the entire series (“Mulder and Scully Meet The Were-Monster”), moments like that were sandwiched between a badly-written season premiere and finale — both of which had Carter’s personal touch. If you remember, that season actually ended with everybody on the entire planet simultaneously dying of a deadly virus. There is no way out of that situation that isn’t a cheat.
There’s also the fact that X-Files was revolutionary in its day, but by this point has wound up inspiring superior competitors. The previous season was a nice trip down memory lane, but they’ve got to evolve or die if they want to stick around.
The X-Files’ 11th season could air as early as this fall or it could debut in 2018 — Fox has yet to decide. The previous finale would have been a lousy way to go out, and now that they have yet another chance, maybe they can wrap up this story properly. Or they could hold out for a Season 12.