Will the new X-Files season be the last?

Agents Mulder and Scully are returning to TV in just under three weeks’ time, as a new six-episode “event series” of The X-Files starts airing in the US.

Great though it is to have the duo back, six episodes just doesn’t seem like enough! So SFX magazine asked actors David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson what the chances are of them shooting a bunch more.

“I don’t know,” Duchovny says. “I hate to disappoint, but I take things as they come. Each day on the set had its own challenges and charms and problems. But when I sat down and watched it, I saw that the show still worked and the characters still worked. I have never not believed in the frame of the show as being so flexible as to be almost infinite. We have a show that can be comedy, drama, science fiction, mystery, thriller, horror and not feel like it’s a different show. Doing six is maybe not enough to show that flexibility, so maybe we have more to do. I don’t know, we’ll see. Having gone through it again, I think we’re all okay with moving forward with more. I don’t want to speak for everyone, but I would.”

That’s a positive-sounding “maybe”, then. Gillian Anderson seems a bit cooler on the idea, though.

“It’s possible but not probable. It will be an ongoing conversation. We have to see how it does and if people are enthusiastic about it and have the same interest. I think it’s all dependent on that.”

You can read much more about the new series of The X-Files – including what it was like for the duo to work together again after a gap of eight years – in SFX issue 270, which also features a massive celebration of Star Trek’s 50th anniversary, with three collectable covers. It goes on sale this Wednesday (6 January), when you’ll be able to buy a copy online here.

The X-Files airs on Fox in the US on Sunday 24 January (10ET/7PT), and will be on Channel 5 in the UK.