July 23, 1999
Mulder Is Out of There

It's no secret that next season will likely be the last for Fox's hit series The X-Files, but if it does go on, it'll do so without David Duchovny.

Seven years of aliens, conspiracies, and paranormal encounters is plenty, says Duchovny. He told the Toronto Sun, "Seven years is a long time to do one show and I have other things to do."

The actor, who plays FBI agent Fox Mulder on the show, has been very vocal in the past about his boredom and dissatisfaction with the series. He was somewhat appeased when the show moved from Vancouver B.C. to L.A. last year at Duchovny's request. The move apparently wasn't enough to make the actor want to renew his contract, however, which expires after season number seven, as does that of series creator Chris Carter.

Carter told the New York Daily News that he hasn't ruled out an eighth season, even one without Mulder, who is half of the show's dynamic duo."I have no absolute answer about this," said Carter. He is on track with original plans to end the series in May 2000, "I'm looking at these next 22 episodes as a wrapup," he told the Daily News. Carter is turning his attention to his new sci-fi drama, Harsh Realm, which will premiere this fall on Fox.

Curiously, Gillian Anderson is signed to an eighth season (even though Carter and Duchovny had only seven-year contracts), which means she could get a new partner or go it solo. (Does that mean that we'll be seeing The Scully Forensic Hour?)

And, strange as it sounds, Duchovny thinks he won't be missed. He told the Sun, "Even if I was indispensable at one point, I'm no longer indispensable. Nobody is indispensable. It's a brand name. It's Crest. It's something like that. It's Menudo," he said, referring to the Puerto Rican boy band that constantly refreshed its members.

He does admit to feeling "proprietary" about the Mulder character, adding that if the show continued without him, "There would be a part of me that would be sitting at home wishing thoroughly that it would fail." However, he told the Sun the show will certainly be fondly remembered. "I think you know that at its heart … it was just a f---ing good show."

Duchovny's not only honed his skills at alien-hunting while on the show, he's also co-written episodes, and this season wrote and directed his first installment, a well-received riff on aliens and baseball.

Although Playing God, his first movie vehicle made after the show turned him into one of TV's hottest hunks, crashed and burned at the box office, Duchovny's back on the big screen, teaming with Minnie Driver for the romantic comedy Return to Me, due out next year.

Whether or not Mulder's on the small screen, Duchovny is committed to upcoming X-Files movies. Much like the Star Trek films, which feature the cast of the long-canceled Star Trek: Next Generation series, Anderson and Duchovny will continue to make motion pictures about the adventures of Mulder and Scully.

Just don't expect a sequel to last year's big screen drama too soon. "I think it would be wonderful to do one this summer," Carter told the Daily News, but I think this is going to be a busy year."