The X-Files (1993)
The X-Files is a 1993 mystery series created by Chris Carter. It stars David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson and Mitch Pileggi.
Somewhere in the FBI basement sit the cases nobody wants: alien abductions, mutants, unexplained disappearances all filed under the paranormal. Special Agent Fox Mulder believes, obsessively, and Special Agent Dana Scully, a physician and scientist, is assigned to keep him honest with hard evidence. Their partnership, equal parts trust and argument, carries Chris Carter's landmark series through monster-of-the-week chills and a sprawling conspiracy that never quite resolves. David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson made Mulder and Scully one of television's defining duos across nine seasons of dread, dry wit, and the nagging sense that something is being hidden.
Quick answers
What is The X-Files about?
Somewhere in the FBI basement sit the cases nobody wants: alien abductions, mutants, unexplained disappearances all filed under the paranormal. Special Agent Fox Mulder believes, obsessively, and Special Agent Dana Scully, a physician and scientist, is assigned to keep him honest with hard evidence. Their partnership, equal parts trust and argument, carries Chris Carter's landmark series through monster-of-the-week chills and a sprawling conspiracy that never quite resolves. David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson made Mulder and Scully one of television's defining duos across nine seasons of dread, dry wit, and the nagging sense that something is being hidden.
When was The X-Files released?
The X-Files was released on 10 September 1993.
How many episodes does The X-Files have?
The X-Files has 218 episodes across 11 seasons.
Who made The X-Files?
The X-Files was created by Chris Carter.
Where can I watch The X-Files?
The X-Files is available on Hulu, Pluto TV, Google Play, Amazon, AppleTV and Fandango at Home.
Where to watch The X-Files
Stream: Hulu
Watch free: Pluto TV
Rent: Google Play
Buy: Amazon, AppleTV, Fandango at Home, Google Play
Official site
Cast
- David Duchovny as Fox Mulder
- Gillian Anderson as Dana Scully
- Mitch Pileggi as Walter Skinner
- William B. Davis as Cigarette Smoking Man
- Robert Patrick as John Doggett
- Tom Braidwood as Melvin Frohike
- Bruce Harwood as John Fitzgerald Byers
- Dean Haglund as Richard 'Ringo' Langly
- Annabeth Gish as Monica Reyes
- Nicholas Lea as Alex Krycek
- James Pickens Jr. as Alvin Kersh
- Sheila Larken as Margaret Scully
Similar series
Explore The X-Files guides
The X-Files in our writing
- Companion guide: Alien Contact
- Companion guide: Aliens Hiding Among Us
- Companion guide: Conspiracy Thrillers
- Companion guide: Paranormal Investigators
A few thoughts on The X-Files
The X-Files' blend of dread, conspiracy, and the uncanny runs through plenty of other media. Stephen King's The Institute puts gifted kids inside a shadowy government program, Locke & Key layers supernatural mystery over a haunted family house, and the manga Parasyte turns alien invasion into intimate body horror. The game Half-Life leans into the same secret-facility paranoia.
Paranormal investigators chasing a conspiracy that never resolves
Mulder wants to believe and Scully wants proof, and The X-Files buries that pairing in a conspiracy that never fully resolves. These series share the paranormal caseload and the creeping sense of a cover-up, following investigators who chase the unexplained while someone powerful keeps the truth out of reach.
Monster-of-the-week horror and the uncanny standalone chill
For every conspiracy arc, The X-Files delivered a standalone chiller: a mutant, a ghost, a thing in the woods. These anthologies and eerie dramas work that same monster-of-the-week vein, serving a fresh piece of the uncanny each time with a cold shiver of dread.
Eerie horror manga where the ordinary turns monstrous
The X-Files thrives on ordinary places gone wrong, and these horror manga do the same. Suburbia, schools and quiet towns hide something monstrous, and characters who look twice discover the rot underneath the everyday, told with the show's mix of curiosity and fear.
Sci-fi horror games and books with something hunting in the dark
Under the mystery, The X-Files is often pure sci-fi horror, something inhuman closing in. These games and novels drop you into that same dread, labs and wastelands where an experiment escaped, and survival depends on understanding the thing hunting you.