RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Yes, the truth is out there. "The X-Files" is back. The FBI's Fox Mulder and Dana Scully are back on the TV, taking on unsolved cases of the paranormal ilk.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE X-FILES")
DAVID DUCHOVNY: (As Fox Mulder) You know, this Oregon female, she's the fourth person in her graduating class to die under mysterious circumstances. Now, when convention and science offer us no answers, might we not finally turn to the fantastic as a plausibility?
MARTIN: Of course, Gillian Anderson is Dana Scully. David Duchovny is Fox Mulder. There are also some other familiar characters in these new episodes. And the show is still under the helm of creator Chris Carter, who is writing and directing. David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson spoke with my colleague Scott Simon. And he started the conversation by asking if there was something about our times that makes this a good moment for "The X-Files" to return. Gillian Anderson jumped in first.
GILLIAN ANDERSON: I think it's the right time in terms of political climate, but I also think that people are ready for this, and the only way that David and I were able to make it happen was if it was going to be in a short amount of episodes. And networks have only just in the past couple of years become willing and able to do shorter stacks.
SCOTT SIMON, BYLINE: David Duchovny, do we live in a time that bristles with conspiracy theories?
DUCHOVNY: Well, I don't know. I think we always do. I think, you know, when the show was ending back in the early 2000s, it was right after 9/11 and I do believe that even though that's still ripe for conspiracies, I think it was all too real at that point. And now, you know, somewhat removed from that, in a way we're back to a time where there's a lot of speculation over world events. But I think that's just in human nature to be drawn to conspiracies. People want answers. Sometimes things happen without a reason. Sometimes chaos happens that's not satisfying to people. People want a villain, they want a cabal, they want a conspiracy
SIMON: That nicely sets up a clip we have from the first episode. Let's listen to it.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE X-FILES")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Like yourself, I'm a true believer.
DUCHOVNY: (As Fox Mulder) No, I only want to believe. Actual proof has been strangely hard to come by.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) You ran the X-Files. You were the X-Files. You all but wrote the book.
DUCHOVNY: (As Fox Mulder) I'm afraid that book is closed.
ANDERSON: (As Dana Scully) As are the X-Files, for better or worse. We've moved on with our lives.
DUCHOVNY: (As Fox Mulder) Yes we have. For better or for worse.
SIMON: How do you project Dana Scully right now, Gillian Anderson? What do you think time has done to her?
ANDERSON: Well, I think she has refocused herself and her wants and her desires. And I think that she has seen Mulder become extremely impassioned and risk his life and risk their lives. And I think that she's decided that she can't do that anymore. And even though she's kind of getting on with getting on, there's a certain sadness there.
SIMON: And, David Duchovny, how do you pick up a character that you haven't inhabited for a few years or is it like doing "Macbeth" again?
DUCHOVNY: It's daunting at first. But then when Gillian and I kind of started working together just on that first day, it's really something that is kind of unspoken and unconscious and intuitive in many ways. We did it for so long that there is something that just kicks in, as well as the fact that we are older than when we started and that we get to play with as well. That's an interesting thing for us as actors to play the same characters but in a much later part of their lives, which you don't normally get to do as an actor. It's very, very rare, I think, that an actor gets to do that.
SIMON: And, Gillian Anderson, (laughter) have people come up to you over the years and said, look, Scully and Mulder are perfect for each other. Why don't they - why don't they just try and be happy together?
ANDERSON: I mean, I've had people say to me, why don't you and David get together? I don't they've come up to me and said why don't, you know, why aren't Mulder and and Scully together.
SIMON: David Duchovny, do you get that?
DUCHOVNY: Well, it's always interesting to me, people get very invested in fictional characters that way. I can't say that I've ever had that - I've ever had that experience in my life where I wanted people that didn't exist to end up together (laughter). But I think it goes back to Chris's conception of the show. I think he made - he made two characters who were complementary to one another and kind of completed one another in a romantic comedy sense. And I think because it took so long for them to be physical in any way, there was a certain ache to the show. And also that wasn't what the show was about. The show was about the cases. The shows was about the quest. And that's kind of, I think, the magic of the relationship in the show is that it was never the point of the show. It always happened in the spaces of the show.
SIMON: Gillian Anderson, David Duchovny, "The X-Files" on Fox, Mulder and Scully, thanks so much for being with us.
ANDERSON: Thank you so much, Scott. It's a pleasure to be here. Thank you.
DUCHOVNY: Thank you, Scott. It was a pleasure to be with you.