A new year has officially begun. However, it also signifies the end of an era. After 25 years as Agent Dana Scully on the hit show, The X-Files, Gillian Anderson is officially saying goodbye.
“Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.” – Garrison Keillor
Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow
In October after New York Comic Con, the internet was buzzing with Gillian Anderson’s announcement that Season 11 would be her last. Then a Fox representative spun her statements to say that no determination had been made.
Finally, Anderson has officially stated that this will be her last time appearing as Agent Dana Scully on The X-Files. Shockwaves have spread throughout the fandom at her decision. Although I have been a fan since the series began in 1993, I have to say, I get it.
She is an actress and like any artist she has to continue to challenge herself. She has played this character for over two decades. As painful as it is to say goodbye, she can’t inhabit Scully forever.
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In Gillian’s words to TV Insider, “I’ve said from the beginning this is it for me, I was a bit surprised by people’s [shocked] reaction to my announcement…because my understanding was that this was a single season.”
According to Digital Spy, hanging up her FBI badge will give her more time to devote to American Gods and The Fall. Probably, fans will harken back to the time David Duchovny left the show toward the end of the original series run.
Without Duchovny, the fans took a long time to warm up to Reyes (Annabeth Gish) and Doggett (Robert Patrick). Sure, they didn’t have chemistry like Scully and Mulder but maybe that was the point. They were partners in the true sense of the word.
To me, they worked. The show started to focus more on the mythology and the episodes than on the “romance” aspect of will they or won’t they with Anderson and Duchovny’s characters. However, majority of the fans didn’t enjoy the latter years of the X-Files.
Looking into the Future
Chris Carter feels as if there could be a season 12. David Duchovny is also interested in returning if Fox renews the series.
“There are a lot more X-Files to tell,” states Carter in Digital Spy. “Whether we get to tell them is a question mark. The truth is out there.”
Next: The X-Files: Chris Carter on the show’s appeal -it’s all about the stories
If Carter has more stories, I am certain the fans will be there to hear them. Catch the X-Files on January 3 at 8 p.m. on Fox.