Fourteen years is an eternity to wait to revive a popular series — and a risky proposition.
The 2014 resurrection of “24,” only a few years after it was cancelled, earned lackluster ratings — but David Duchovny remains optimistic that fans will be there when “The X-Files” reboot premieres Sunday night on Fox, 14 years after the original series ended.
“Our fans were so die-hard and the show has a different kind of hardcore following that’s different from ‘24,’ ” says Duchovny, reprising his role as UFO-obsessed skeptic Fox Mulder opposite Gillian Anderson’s Dana Scully. “We’ve taken a long time off, but the mythology of the show has maintained [itself].”
Duchovny says that changes in the way we watch TV now encouraged him to pursue the new series, which is only six episodes long.
“When I left the show I always imagined we could turn it into a movie franchise, but after the second movie [‘The X-Files: I Want to Believe’ in 2008] there didn’t seem to be much of an appetite [among the public]. I figured it was dead,” he says. “Then TV revolutionized itself. I was never going to do 22 episodes [of a show] again. I did [12 episodes of] ‘Californication’ [a season], which was doable. When the networks turned that around, I said, ‘This is a good model.’ [Series creator] Chris Carter, Gillian Anderson and I looked at each other and said maybe we don’t need a movie.”
Fans of the show should prepare themselves for a history of UFOs, narrated by Duchovny, at the beginning of Sunday’s premiere. As Mulder, he’s been living the life of a recluse since the FBI shut down the “X-Files” division. “It’s in Northern Virginia but it seems like it’s off the grid,” he says. “It’s actually on a soundstage in Vancouver.”
While Scully goes back to her career as a physician, the show does not address how Mulder has been getting by for a dozen years in the Beltway outback. But Duchovny has his own ideas. “I think he’s drinking his own urine,” he says. “Not spending money on razors or haircuts.”
Both Mulder and Scully are sought out by dapper conspiracy theorist and “Truth Squad” TV host Tad O’Malley (Joel McHale). He introduces them to Sveta (Annet Mahendru of “The Americans”), a UFO abductee who, it seems, has alien DNA in her system.
Mulder and Scully go down different rabbit holes in their investigation but they get to the same place — that a “well-heeled group of elites” are using alien technology to take over America.
“We go back and forth to those issues,” Duchovny says. “In true ‘X-Files’ nature, that would earn a mythology episode, then a monster-of the-week episode, then a comedic episode and then back to a mythology episode.
“We’re not going to answer everything.”
One thing Duchovny, who is presently shooting his NBC crime series “Aquarius,” would answer are questions about his sometimes-thorny relationship with Anderson.
“Back in the day, there were times we couldn’t stand each other,” he says. “We went through a hugely turbulent time. We became famous together. We got careers together. I think we lost our minds a little bit. I think we went a little crazy.
“Having gone away for a while, we both appreciate each other and forgive each other for what happened,” he says. “It’s like a real friendship with real history.”
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