David Duchovny was on Late Show With David Letterman last night to plug his new alt-rock album — yes, Hell Or Highwater is available now at your local record store or illegal download site. But, as you might have heard, he also has a couple of TV projects in the works. With his seven-year run on Showtime’s Californication in the rearview mirror, Duchovny is set to star in Aquarius, NBC’s gritty drama about a cop who goes undercover to track Charles Manson. But the crowd wanted to hear details about Fox’s resuscitation of The X-Files, which was announced last week.
Creator Chris Carter and co-star Gillian Anderson are back for Round 2 of the 1990s drama about the FBI agents probing cases with a paranormal bent. But Duchovny also confirmed the return of a couple other castmates. “Mitch Pileggi will come back,” he said, referring who recurred as Walter Skinner, “and the Cigarette-Smoking Man — if this means anything to anyone — will be coming back.” It meant plenty to many members of the studio audience, who fondly recall William B. Davis’ character, the archnemesis of Duchovny’s Fox Mulder.
Letterman noted that The X-Files has the hard-core fan base from its original 1993-2002 run on Fox and the two movies, but it also has developed new fans in the decade-plus since it left the air. “It’s a strange phenomenon that people still want to see those characters,” Duchovny noted, “but I’m grateful.”
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