The truth is officially out there once again.
The Hollywood Reporter has word that Fox has announced the television classic The X-Files will return for a six-episode revival. David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson will reprise their original roles as Fox Mulder and Dr. Dana Scully, with production beginning this summer for a later premiere date.
The series, which ran for nine seasons from 1993 to 2002, had two feature films (The X-Files: Fight the Future and The X-Files: I Want to Believe) and a shortly-lived spinoff series, The Lone Gunmen. Currently, there is an official continuation in The X-Files: Season 10 comic book series from IDW Publishing.
"I think of it as a 13-year commercial break," said X-Files creator and executive producer Chris Carter, who will also returning. "The good news is the world has only gotten that much stranger, a perfect time to tell these six stories."
"We had the privilege of working with Chris on all nine seasons of The X-Files – one of the most rewarding creative experiences of our careers – and we couldn't be more excited to explore that incredible world with him again," Fox Television Group chairmen and CEOs Gary Newman and Dana Walden said in a statement. "The X-Files was not only a seminal show for both the studio and the network, it was a worldwide phenomenon that shaped pop culture – yet remained a true gem for the legions of fans who embraced it from the beginning. Few shows on television have drawn such dedicated fans as The X-Files, and we're ecstatic to give them the next thrilling chapter of Mulder and Scully they've been waiting for."
Duchovny and Anderson expressed being open for a third X-Files film in 2013, but formal talks didn't begin until this past January. Duchovny later commented on the possibility, telling USA Today he expected X-Files would return and that he was "more than happy and excited to bring it back and do it again with Gillian and Chris. ... It will be in some kind of limited form. We're all old, we don't have the energy for a full season," he remarked with a laugh.