Gillian Anderson Says 9/11 Ended The X-Files

The X-Files came to an end in 2002, perhaps somewhat impressively, the return episode has held the (quite high) ratings of the final episode in the 2000s.  I don’t really recall what the reason was for them pulling the plug, but series star Gillian Anderson has opined on the original cancellation of The X-Files.

In an interview The Daily Beast, she explains how continuing with the X-Files became to risky and no longer OK.

“The X-Files ended during the Bush administration, and we learned very, very quickly after 9/11 that people couldn’t speak up openly in public about what they thought we should do, or shouldn’t be doing as the result. Most of our show up until that point was—and still is—about government conspiracies. There are conspiracies now about the government having known about or having caused [9/11], or about it being a ruse and an excuse for us to go into Iraq—but it became no longer OK for people to accuse government of being deceitful or untrustworthy. And that was the backbone of our show.”

Astute TV watchers out there will remember that The X-Files had a spin off series, The Lone Gunmen, their title a pun on the JFK assassination.  That immediately brings to mind the infamous ‘9/11 episode’, aired shortly before 9/11, which featured the title heroes preventing a terrorist attack on the World Trade Center using the remote recovery system.  But you know, I’m not even going to touch that with a 30 ft barge pole.