The X-Files is getting a comedy spinoff? What a joke!

The X-Files gets a comedy spinoff as if the revival wasn’t enough of a joke

In the latest “no one asked for this” news, FOX is giving Chris Carter yet another chance to bring back The X-Files. Except…not exactly.

Will it focus on Special Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson)? Nope. Does the upcoming spinoff have anything to do with the mythology? All signs point to probably also no, and that’s really the only good news there is.

When you bring back a wildly popular television series for a revival, only to defecate all over everything that people loved about it, to the point where even the original leading lady washes her hands of even the possibility of more, why not just keep on rolling? Right? That seems to be the logic for continuing to create more things and labeling them as The X-Files, when they’re clearly not.

Nobody asked for more of The X-Files, especially without Mulder and Scully

Putting The X-Files and “comedy spinoff” next to each other in the same sentence makes for an interesting thought process. Aside from the instant “dear God, no, not again” reaction, there’s actually the memory of some of the best episodes of the original series. Gillian Anderson’s often-chosen favorite, “Bad Blood,” certainly falls in that category.

But then, you dig a little deeper. In the first place, this is coming after things like totally retconning William’s origins—something Frank Spotnitz told us was not what he would have done. Then, of course, there was breaking Mulder and Scully up in the first place, only to sort of, kind of hint at bringing them back together in the vaguest possible way, apparently as a vehicle for creating a miracle pregnancy for the supposedly “barren” (we hate that word) Agent Scully.

Maybe, though, this animated series that’s in the works would be some small way of softening the blow left behind by Season 11’s failures. Except…um. No.

According to TVLine:

"Titled The X-Files: Albuquerque, the ‘toon offshoot — which has received a script and presentation commitment from Fox — will not revolve around David Duchovny‘s Mulder and  Gillian Anderson‘s Scully. Rather, the potential series will center an office full of misfit agents who investigate X-Files cases too wacky, ridiculous or downright dopey for Mulder and Scully to bother with. They’re essentially the X-Files’ B-team."

The lack of Anderson isn’t at all surprising, but it’s definitely a reason why this is a very, very bad idea. People loved this series because of Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny. Viewers tuned in to see their incredible on-screen chemistry and their characters’ absolutely world-shattering bond.

Creating anything that’s supposedly even tangentially related to what they did in the 90s and not having them involved is upsetting, to say the least. Just to be clear: Mulder and Scully are The X-Files. To put it another way, Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny made this series; without them, there is no story to tell.

If FOX wanted to give Chris Carter another series, even of the animated comedy variety, it would have been a lot more appealing if it were packaged as literally anything else. But, well. Even then, given the way his vision kind of destroyed…well, his vision…that would probably still be a hard pass.

Are you in or out for The X-Files without Mulder and Scully? Sound off in the comments!