A couple months ago, Gillian Anderson announced her official retirement from the series that made her famous. She said she's never returning to The X-Files again after this short season 11 run. The actress also stated that her departure from Dana Scully has nothing to do with money but is more about getting away from the decades old franchise and trying to branch out into more movie and television roles. Fans are undoubtedly disappointed as this latest batch of episodes has brought us back to the X-Files we used to know and love. Unlike season 10, the non-mythology episodes have been getting rave reviews.
Even if creator Chris Carter wanted to continue on, it looks as though Fox isn't interested. During the Summer TCA, Fox addressed a possible third installment of The X-Files:
“Not only is there no plan, there hasn’t been a single conversation. It’s too early to even speculate,” Fox chairman Gary Newman said back then. One the conference call today, he was even more definitive.
“It’s been great show for network but there are no pans to do another season at the moment,” he said.
In an interview with Digital Spy, Carter left the possibility of the series returning open, saying:
“I don’t know. I think that certainly The X-Files has more life in it, there are more stories to tell, with Gillian or without. I’m sorry to see her go, I’ve never actually considered doing this show without her, so is this the end? It’s the end of something, I don’t know if it’s the beginning of something new. But certainly we will have to all put our heads together and figure out where to go from here.”
He also stated that he thinks the absence of Scully from the series could actually fuel more stories with her departure or missing status opening new doors. He reflected on when Duchovny left and made a strong comparison:
“I always thought of David the way I thought about the child William [Mulder and Scully’s child], as an absent centre. Even when he wasn’t there, he was the centre of everyone’s concern, and the stories revolved around him. I think that’s an interesting problem for storytellers and I think that if The X-Files is to go forward then Scully would be a similar absent centre.”
So while Fox doesn't see anything at this moment, that doesn't mean that Carter has officially closed the door on the series.