Conspiracy, Procedure, Continuity: Reopening The X-Files

Abstract

This article examines how the 2016 X-Files revival restages the storytelling strategies that defined the show’s original run within the framework of the six-episodes-long event season. It argues that the 2016 iteration of the program adopts the alternation between procedural “Monster-of-the-Week” episodes, parodistic installments, and entries that advance an ongoing conspiracy plot for its own purposes. More specifically, the article suggests that the revival abandons the original series’ emphasis on long-term audience engagement in favor of a retrospective outlook that serves to legitimate the revival’s status as a worthy continuation of the original run—and that this shift is informed by its status as an event series. In doing so, the revival resurrects a mode of television storytelling informed by the demands of television’s multichannel era. To make this argument, the article discusses the storytelling strategies of The X-Files’ original run, and examines their implementation in the revival series.