What we know so far about the X-Files reboot

Channel 5 will be showing the series in the UK.

It's been 13 years since the last episode of X-Files aired, but our love for agents Mulder and Scully has yet to wane. The show ran for a hefty nine series between 1993-2002, as well as spawning the feature film X-Files: I Want to Believe in 2008. Unsurprising, then, that their return to screen has been highly-anticipated. So, if you're chomping at the bit for more adventures from the world's favourite extraterrestrial investigators, here's a round-up of all the info we know so far.

When's it airing?

Channel 5 have secured the UK rights to air the new series, with Fox producing the show in the US. Fox are kicking things off with a special event screening the first two episodes over Sunday, 24 January and Monday, 25 January; yet there's no word on when it will show in the UK outside of "early 2016".

The deal with Channel 5 also included the rights to screen The X-Files Essential Collection, which consists of 20 episodes hand-selected by the show's creator Chris Carter, aimed to catch-up old viewers and introduce the series to new ones. Ben Frow, director of programming at Channel 5 has said, “Securing the UK premiere of the hugely anticipated return of The X-Files is a major coup for the channel and will create one of the television events of 2016. This acquisition underlines our ambition to deliver a diverse slate of brilliant, must-see programming on Channel 5.”

How many episodes?

Duchovny told Variety, "It's not technically a full series, but instead is being screen as six-part "event". "I would hope [the revival] will be successful, I would hope we could continue, but right now, I'm just looking at it as these six, and then we'll see what happens."

Who's in the cast?

Most pressing thing first: yes, both David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson will return as agents Mulder and Scully. Other returning characters include their boss Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi), Monica Reyes (Annabeth Gish), Scully's mother Margaret (Sheila Larken), and The Cigarette-Smoking Man (William B Davis). What's extremely peculiar is the fact The Lone Gunmen (Bruce Harwood, Tom Braidwood, and Dean Haglund) are also set to return, though the trio were killed off during the original series. One character confirmed not to be returning is fellow FBI agent John Doggett (Robert Patrick).

New cast members include Joel McHale as conservative newsman Tad O'Malley, Annet Mahendru as an alien abductee, and Robbie Amell and Lauren Ambrose as FBI agents Miller and Einstein. Kumail Nanjiani, Vik Sahay, and Flight of the Conchords' Rhys Darby also have roles.

What's the story?

The trailer suggests episodes will centre around Tad O'Malley enlisting Mulder to investigate a potential worldwide invasion plot; supposedly this will tie into the alien invasion prediction made by The Cigarette-Smoking Man for 22 December 2012 at the end of the original series. However, this narrative arch will integrate within the more traditional single episode cases. "Home Again" will feature a villain known only as the "Band-Aid Nose Man", who according to TVLine is, "intimidating, odd, weary, creepy, and immeasurably strong." There's also an episode titled "Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster", which sounds sort of self-explanatory. 
 

Who wrote it?

Half of the episodes have been penned by series creator Chris Carter, the other distributed between veterans of the series James Wong, Glen Morgan, and Darin Morgan. So here's hoping they maintain all the touches that made the original such a massive success.