Duchovny: I'm Not Coming Back -- Ever
June 3, 2001
David Duchovny made it clear Sunday: he's done with "The X-Files" and won't come back,
even for a cameo.
"Yeah, I'm done with the TV show," Duchovny told Zap2it during
interviews for "Evolution," his new sci fi comedy movie for DreamWorks. "I don't
think it's fair to me or the fans [to do] cameos."
As this season ended, his FBI agent character Fox Mulder ended the show
kissing his longtime partner Scully, played by Gillian Anderson. She just had a
baby, and there's some insinuation, although not clear, that it's Mulder's
child.
That will be the last time Duchovny will be seen on the show, he says.
"It's hard to walk away, I miss Mulder, I miss the show," Duchovny says. "I
miss having my own show."
Duchovny left the show during contract disputes with Chris Carter over
residuals, and only agreed to do half the season last year. He says he hasn't
had time to miss his character yet since it's only been a few weeks since he
worked on the show. And although FOX executives have said they would love for
Duchovny to stay, the actor says he was not offered anything in particular to
stay on the show, nor did his co-star Anderson try to talk him out of it.
"Gillian did not try to convince me. She's going through the same thing, she
totally understands," says Duchovny, reflecting reports that Anderson has said
this would probably be her last season with the show.
"I think the consciousness of the show is this quest of Mulder's and the core
of the show is Mulder and Scully. When I came back at the end of this year, by
necessity, by my choice of not being on the show full time, other stories and
other ideas had to come center stage," Duchovny said. "And when I came back I
felt somewhat peripheral. Mulder's story was one of three or four stories that
were going on and it didn't feel like the same show to me."
His character had been emasculated -- in the show he was fired from the FBI
and taken off the X-Files, the secret odd-supernatural cases investigated by the
FBI. So, he says, he won't consider coming back in cameos.
"To bring back Mulder peripherally is not fair to the character that I feel a
lot of affinity for," Duchovny insists. "I feel that fans respect Mulder as the
consciousness of the show and for him to come back like Superman's Dad or
whatever feels cheap to me." He also characterized his feelings as "a step-dad
still having stuff in the house waiting to move out, it was weird."
The cast and crew didn't make him feel uncomfortable, however, and he said he
loved working with Robert Patrick, who was brought in as an FBI agent to replace
Mulder as he was abducted by aliens. Duchovny said he grew tired.
"There's no other show in the history of television that had the schedule we
did, two people an hour a week, no one had that kind of workload," Duchovny
says, explaining he encouraged other characters to be beefed up in the show to
take the focus off Scully and Mulder. "That never seemed to catch on."
And as far as money, Duchovny says he was sure he could "write his own
ticket."
"The money is crazy, it gets confusing," Duchovny says, comparing himself to
"ER's" Julianna Margulies, who decided not to continue on the show despite a $25
million-plus contract offer. "People are making fun of Julianna for making that
decision when we should be applauding her."
In the end, what Duchovny really wants is to focus on writing and directing,
as well as acting in different genres, like the comedy "Evolution."
However, Fox Mulder may be back someday. Duchovny is leaving the door open to
play the character on the big screen and he says he knew they wouldn't kill off
his character in the TV show because Fox wants to do another movie with their
characters.
But with him out of the picture next season, will the question everyone is
asking -- Is Mulder the father of Scully's baby -- ever be resolved?
"I don't know about the baby," he smiles, admitting he's not sure it's his.
"But that's it for me -- the kiss -- that's it."
"They'll have to resolve me while I'm gone, and I'll be interested in that --
have a baby with me kiss me and now he left."
One thing is for sure, Duchovny will be watching.
