Entertainment

X-Files returns to TV after 13 years off the air

David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson will be back as agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully in a limited X-Files series, Fox confirmed Tuesday.

Stars David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson to return for limited series on Fox

X-Files to return

10 years ago
Duration 3:13
Sci-fi series will be back on television for 6 episodes with David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson reprising their roles

David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson will reprise their roles as agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully in a just-confirmed reboot of The X-Files, Fox Broadcasting Company says.

The popular sci-fi series went off the air 13 years ago, taking with it its strange stories of unexplained paranormal drama.

But the cult classic will return to Fox with a limited series of six new episodes, the show's creator Chris Carter revealed in a statement on Tuesday.

"I think of it as a 13-year commercial break," said Carter. "The good news is the world has only gotten that much stranger, a perfect time to tell these six stories."

David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson appear in a 1996 promotional image for X-Files. The sci-fi series premiered in 1993. The new limited X-Files series will air on Fox. (Fox/Liaison/Getty Images)
The Vancouver-shot show, which centred on Mulder and Scully's investigations into mysterious FBI cases, or "X-Files," won multiple Emmy awards in its nine seasons and inspired two spinoff films. 

It also proved to be a major breakout hit for Fox.

"The X-Files was not only a seminal show for both the studio and the network, it was a worldwide phenomenon that shaped pop culture," said Dana Walden and Gary Newman, chairmen and CEOs of Fox Television Group in a statement to Entertainment Weekly.

"Few shows on television have drawn such dedicated fans as The X-Files, and we’re ecstatic to give them the next thrilling chapter of Mulder and Scully they've been waiting for.”

Production on the new X-Files series is slated to begin this summer.

It's not clear if the production will return to Vancouver, or if other popular characters, like William B. Davis's Smoking Man will return in the revived show.

With files from The Associated Press