May-07-2001
TV Guide Online
X-Files’s Finale X-posed
Michael Ausiello

When it comes to The X-Files’s highly anticipated two-part season (or series) finale – airing May 13 and May 20 at 9 pm/ET on Fox – the truth is, well, everyone’s dying to know what the heck Scully is carrying around in her belly. Is it a boy? Is it a girl? Is it Alf? Of course, as often is the case with the long-running serial thriller, the bigger cliffhanger involves the baby that executive producer Chris Carter delivered eight years ago: the X-Files franchise itself. In this exclusive Q&A, he sheds some light on the possibility of a ninth season (Hint: Count on it), the chances that David Duchovny will return (Hint: Don’t count on it) and the upcoming plot twists that could send viewers into labor (Hint: Read on…). –

TVGO: We finally get Mulder back and you pair him with… Doggett?? Mulder/Scully fans are rightfully infuriated!

Carter: I thought it was an interesting new dynamic. I mean, this is Episode 181 we’ve just finished filming. We had a chance to change the dynamic this year, and I thought there was another chance to increase the dynamic so that we could, in fact, reunite Mulder and Scully at the end of the show in an interesting way. So, I think infuriation is part of the fun with The X-Files, and certainly with the Mulder/Scully relationship.

TVGO: Is keeping Scully in the background, in essence, a way to give Gillian Anderson some time off?

Carter: No. Gillian had some time this year to spend with her daughter that we’ve built into the show, so there was no [more or] less given to her in this case. It really was a chance to explore Mulder with a new partner and keep Scully – because she was pregnant – FBI-bound. It seemed natural to us. And I think as you watch the two-part season finale, you’re going to see that there is a good logic behind it.

TVGO: For the record, run down the various scenarios that could play out in regards to the birth of Scully’s, um, thing.

Carter: First of all, we have a woman who is pregnant when all medical evidence pointed to the impossibility of that pregnancy, so we’ve got something strange already. We’ve got the possibility that it is an alien pregnancy. We’ve got the possibility that… this baby [was] produced by some kind of strange invasive science. And then we’ve got the possibility that it’s a miracle.

TVGO: What about the possibility that Mulder is the father?

Carter: There is that possibility as well.

TVGO: Who else could be the daddy?

Carter: I would rule out the Lone Gunmen, that’s for sure.

TVGO: Is the birth basically the centerpiece of the two-part finale?

Carter: Yes, but we get to it in a rather indirect way and then it becomes the centerpiece.

TVGO: What can you tell me about the finale that isn’t out there? Give me a big scoop.

Carter: I will say that you can expect the appearance of three wise men.

TVGO: We know the Lone Gunmen are going to be on.

Carter: Do you? Then I will say that you can expect a significant death in the two-parter.

TVGO: Now we’re talking. Where do things stand with 20th Century Fox in terms of a ninth season?

Carter: We are in, I would say, constructive negotiation.

TVGO: It’s looking good then?

Carter: Constructive.

TVGO: I see. How did you handle writing the final episodes considering you don’t know whether or not the show will be back?

Carter: The same way as I really handled last year, which was that I wanted to be satisfied that this could function as either a series or season finale, and that either way it would continue to preserve the possibility of The X-Files movies.

TVGO: Have you spoken to David about what commitment, if any, he might make if there is another season?

Carter: I haven’t spoken with him specifically about it, but I know that we had a really good, and I felt sweet, send-off for him his final night a little over a week ago. And whatever decision he makes, we have done eight terrific seasons together, and if there are more, great. And if there are no more, I will figure out a way to hopefully make the show as good as it can be.

Tags: chris carter, x-files, xf2

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