I want to believe again! Give me an X-Files 3 and here’s what I want!

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

I’ll always remember how I got into THE X-FILES. JoBlo (aka my bud Big B.) and I had gone to see Robert Zemekis CONTACT (1997) and we were so bummed that after all the build up the flick put out, it ended with freaking David Morse (great man) instead of actual aliens, that we stopped at a video store on the way back to Jo’s pad and rented the pilot episode of THE X-FILES. Yeah that show everybody was talking about (X-Files was at season 4 by the time we got into it). We wanted to see some damn aliens dammit! And we did! After that, we were both hooked on the show and it became a ritual. Every weekend, I’d go to Jo’s garage bedroom or he’d come to my one room hole, we’d make nachos and catch up on our X-Files. As I am writing this I can’t help but smile, freaking simpler times man, I miss them. The show eventually got us into the point and click X-FILES PC video game which we played and after lots of trial and being bitch slapped by Scully, finally finished (to be honest we got stuck, so nabbed cheats online, twas a rough game).

The X-Files PC game… stop bustng balls Scully! 😉

Personally, as I always do when I fall in love with something (Twin Peaks, Conan, Star Trek) I went haywire with The X-Files, reading every book I could get my hands on and absorbing as much information about the show, its cast, its crew as I could. Finally in 1998, we got our first THE X-FILES movie, FIGHT THE FUTURE. I went to see it, proudly wearing my X-Files t-shirt on and yeah, the film was pretty good, but on the show Chris Carter had kind of painted himself in a corner with too many questions up in the air, and the answers this hardcore X-Phile was expecting weren’t in the movie (also, the Bounty Hunter should have been in there). As time went on, THE X-FILES moved from shooting in Vancouver to moving its dog and pony show to LA (for Season 6), the quality lessened (the first 3 seasons were the best IMO), David Duchovny bowed out for the most part (during Seasons 7) and John Doggett (Robert Patrick), and Monica Reyes (Annabeth Gish) came in to fill that void, until the show ended in 2002.

Fight the Future was pretty good; I want The X-Files 3 to be pretty GREAT!

It was over… or so I thought. In 2008, THE X-FILES attempted a come back with a second feature flick called THE X-FILES I WANT TO BELIEVE. Although they did some things right, the story they told was underwhelming, deja vu and pedestrian and unworthy of The X-Files, specially on the big screen. Now that there’s some THE X-FILES 3 buzz going about the web now of late, I decided to write this up and offer what I WOULD LIKE TO SEE in an The X-Files 3. Here we go!

WHAT I WANT FROM THE X-FILES 3!

-Open the film with Mark Snow’s iconic The X Files theme song. Please the long time fans and blow away the X-Files virgins. The theme reeks of eeriness and still stands tall and strong today.

-With all of its faults, THE X-FILES I WANT TO BELIEVE did one thing right. It didn’t attempt to further the TV show and its extensive mythology which lets face it was filled with holes, loose ends and got lost in the wind as creator Chris Carter seemed to be making it up as he went along. The movie pulled a stand alone. And that’s what I want for an X-Files 3 and beyond. For the characters of Mulder and Scully to be constants, tackling stand alone stories film after film. Its too late to go back to he show now, its been too long.

So for this planned Part 3, I’d have our dynamic duo get tossed into a scenario that deals with ALIENS in one way or another. And for Part 4 and beyond, have them pitted against ghosts, werewolves, mutants…whatever, the possibilities are endless. But I’d stick to the paranormal. That’s where I WANT TO BELIEVE went dead wrong, human limb trafficking is just too blah for an X-Files movie. Run with what you got! Don’t short change yourself.

-Get a director who’s a pro with the subgenre! My top pick would be the criminally underrated David Twohy. The man knows Sci-Fi, is good on a budget and has already tackled an X-Files-ish flick called THE ARRIVAL. Skip on getting a “work man” like director and up the ante behind the camera. Get a director with more talent than the norm and that has a clear vision as to what he wants to do, more of an auteur than an assembly line worker. Duncan Jones would be my second choice.

David Twohy should do X-Files 3!

-I’d keep the romantic dynamic between Mulder and Scully; but would kind of ignore everything that went on before (I guess I’d do a semi reboot) to have Mulder be the believer and Scully be AGAIN the hardcore skeptic. At the end of the day their polar opposite state of minds and that chemistry they shared is two of the things that made X-Files so special; you can’t have two believers yo!

-The X-Files always managed to pull of quite the juggling act; hard hitting drama, a potent mystery mixed with a winning sense of humor. So I’d definitely lean on all of those for The X-Files 3.

-Put the money onscreen! The first X-Files movie had stand out special effects. The second one, I have no idea where that 30 Million went. So for round 3; I wanna see the coin well spent. Floor me with money creature effects (KNB would be ideal to handle these), explosions, spaceships…the works!

Put the money where it should go… onscreen!

-Go heavy on the action to complement the plot! As much as I like drama, humor and mystery in my X-Files. We’re talking about a feature flick here not a TV episode. So on this try, put our heroes in mammoth danger and let the extensive, death defying stunts and action sequences fly! I wanna spill my Popcorn on the floor dammit, not gaze at my crotch wondering when will be the next time it gets fed!

-Fanboy requests! Its not The X-Files without my man Skinner (Mitch Pillegi) in the house, so I would like to see him come back. And if I get greedy, have secondary roles for Monica Reyes (Annabeth Gish) and John Doggett (Robert Patrick), in there too. Although their stay on the show was short lived, I loved them and think they would make for a fine addition to a third X-Files movie.

-Keep the convenient coincidences out of the plot. X-files 2 was filled with them! We need a top notch screenwriter on this one! Hey, get David Twohy for that job too! He’s aces in the depertment as well!

And that’s it! Not so much to ask is it?!

THE X-FILES is stall a viable concept in my my bible and its leads, although older, still look great. With the right people behind the script and the camera and with the money they have splashed on the screen (maybe Duchovny and Anderson can take a back-end deal, like Vin Diesel did for Riddick 3) , THE X-FILES 3 can be a badass movie that would lead to a solid franchise with legs. Learn from your mistakes X-Files peeps and give us a third movie worthy of the GENIUS you gave us on the small screen for at least 3 to 4 seasons. I STILL BELIEVE! And you have one more shot to sell me and the world! DO IT!