X-Files star says she's likely quitting after next season

Gillian Anderson says she’s likely done with The X-Files after the upcoming 11th season.

In an interview with ScreenRant, the actress was asked if she was “open to continuing beyond” the upcoming season.

“No, no, I think this will be it for me,” she said. When asked why she did this season then, Anderson replied, “Because it felt like it wasn’t over. It didn’t feel like we necessarily deliver everything the fans were expecting of us last time, and so it was that.” (We reached out to Fox about Anderson’s comments, and the network had nothing to add at this time.)

Creator Chris Carter noted at NYCC that the new season will end on a cliffhanger, so that means there’s a chance that fans won’t get a resolution to the show’s ever-unspooling mythology (then again, when doesn’t a season of The X-Files end on a cliffhanger?).

Getting Anderson and her costar David Duchovny on board was the trickiest part about reviving the Fox sci-fi series for six episodes in 2016, and negotiations for 2018’s upcoming 10 episodes dragged out for months. Yet X-Files has always been a procedural that’s been rather pliable to market forces rather than to a strictly planned creative vision, and if Fox backs up the money truck for a “12th and final!” season, it wouldn’t be surprising if the Duchovny and Anderson picked up their flashlights once again. Anderson seemed to acknowledge as much later in that same interview when she noted, “You know, there’s always been this ‘maybe one more’ thing hanging over [the show].”

Meanwhile, Fox released the first trailer for season 11, which is below:

The X-Files returns next year (we’d bet on a January or February rollout).