(Note: This post contains some spoilers for the premiere of “The X-Files” Season 11.)
The premiere of “The X-Files” Season 11 digs deep into the show’s lore from as far back as 1998 and beyond. The first episode of the new revival season is all about the child of Fox Mulder and Dana Scully and their relationship to their longtime adversary, the Smoking Man.
The episode, “My Struggle III,” starts with an information dump about the Smoking Man, confirming his true identity and a longtime fan theory about the fact that he’s the father of Mulder (David Duchovny). It also brings back a character fans haven’t seen since Season 9, who is a big part of the Smoking Man’s backstory: Jeffrey Spender.
Spender (Chris Owens) was an FBI agent who first showed up in 1998, taking over control of the X-files project when Mulder and Scully (Gillian Anderson) were reassigned. Over the next few seasons, Spender found himself at odds with them, encountering aliens and following the Smoking Man’s orders.
But it turned out that Spender was actually the Smoking Man’s son — and not only that, but he was also Mulder’s half-brother. Spender eventually turned on his father and helped get Mulder and Scully reassigned to the X-files, but he was shot by his father and apparently killed.
Spender survived the attack, but his father then apparently experimented on him for years, disfiguring Spender so much that he was unrecognizable. He later broke into the FBI and was captured, and medical tests performed on Spender briefly led Scully to believe he was Mulder — confirming the fact that the two men were half-brothers. Spender had shown up to inject Scully’s son, William, with something that would cure him of his superhuman alien abilities and make him “normal.”
In the premiere episode of “The X-Files” Season 11, Spender shows back up and apparently got some skin grafts and reconstructive surgery to make him look more like he did back in 1998. We see him coming under attack from someone looking for “the boy.” As we learn during the episode, Scully and Mulder trusted their son to Spender, who helped put him up for adoption. The idea was that Scully and Mulder wouldn’t know where William was, to make it harder for their enemies to find him.
With what seems like a final battle brewing between the Smoking Man and Mulder and Scully, it is fully possible that we’ll see Spender return later in the season. Now that the agents have an apocalypse to avert, Spender, as one of two sons of the Smoking Man, could be a pretty useful ally.
19 TV Reboots That Should Have Been Booted (Photos)
Revivals of "Arrested Development" and the upcoming "Murphy Brown" are making waves as well new versions of "Charmed" and "Magnum PI" coming soon. But will they all be worthy of watching? TheWrap looks at the reboots of classic TV shows that should've gotten the boot from the start.
"Charlie's Angels"
"Charlie's Angels" perfectly captured the goofiness of the '70s, but it felt painfully out of date in 2011. Critics and audiences agreed: It was canceled after three episodes.
"Ironside"
Blair Underwood has done some memorable TV work, starting with his career-making role on "L.A. Law." But his 2013 take on the Raymond Burr crime drama was yanked from NBC's air even faster than you can say "LAX" or "The Event."
"The Bionic Woman"
A 2007 take on the "Six Million Dollar Man" spinoff, this NBC show's original sin was casting "Battlestar Galactica" ass-kicker Katee Sackhoff as the recurring villain rather than the lead.
"Knight Rider"
Like so much '80s television, the original "Knight Rider" is over-celebrated. But NBC's 2008 version lacked even the original's dumb charms — and David Hasselhoff.
"The Returned"
SundanceTV had an international hit on its hands with the French-language moody zombie thriller. An English adaptation was of course inevitable, but Damon Lindelof's A&E remake never quite found its audience, despite gaining the support of critics. Luckily, the original French series is still ongoing.
"Melrose Place"
The classic nighttime soap got a CW makeover in 2009, but the brand wasn't enough to keep an audience interested, especially on a network that was doing rich young people drama better on shows like "Gossip Girl" and even "90210."
"Prime Suspect"
Helen Mirren broke out big time as a rare female detective fighting crime and the sexism of her fellow cops in a hit series first introduced in 1991. But NBC's 2011 version, starring Maria Bello, struggled to find its voice and lasted just 13 episodes.
"Gracepoint"
"Broadchurch" captivated U.K. audiences with its tense murder mystery format, but when the U.S. tried to replicate its magic - with original star David Tennant in tow - it just never quite managed. Needless to say, "Broadchurch" is producing a third season, and "Gracepoint" was canceled after just one.
"Mockingbird Lane"
Bryan Fuller tried to put his stamp on a reboot of "The Munsters," and it's still a bit of a cult classic among his fervent fans, but NBC never ordered the show to series. At least we will always have the pilot, which aired in 2012, which is more than you can say for most pilots that don't get picked up to series.
"The IT Crowd"
This hilarious British series that helped launch Chris O'Dowd's career ran for four seasons. It's American counterpart -- not so much. The across-the-pond adaptation with Joel McHale was ordered to pilot but failed to get picked up at NBC.
"Dragnet"
Jack Webb and Ben Alexander starred in the original 1950's police procedural that became a major hit. Unfortunately, the Ed O'Neill and Ethan Embry reboot in 2003 failed to find similar success. It was cancelled after two seasons.
"Kojak"
Another police procedural bound to be rebooted, Telly Savalas starred as the chrome-domed detective in the 1970's series. Ving Rhames took the reins in 2005, but only made it to nine episodes.
"The Muppets"
ABC's reboot of "The Muppets" was one of the most highly anticipated new shows of the 2015-16 TV season, but the inside look at the adult lives of Kermit and company failed to resonate with fans.
"Heroes Reborn"
Beyond "Chuck" star Zachary Levi, NBC's bland "event series" reboot of 2006's "Heroes" brought nothing new or interesting to the table.
"24: Legacy"
Corey Hawkins starred in this Kiefer Sutherland-less "24" reboot that maintained the show's real-time structure and some of the original show's flaws, but also managed to be cancelled in real time. "24: Legacy" had a big debut following the Super Bowl in 2017 but dropped off sharply afterward and was done after just one season. At the time of the cancellation Fox was still considering continuing the "24" franchise.
Fox
"MacGyver"
Like the hero that shares the show's name, the reboot of "MacGyver," with Lucas Till in the Richard Dean Anderson role, cobbled together a bunch of unusual parts to make yet another procedural that's somehow still kicking, despite constant lampooning from "The Simpsons" and "SNL's" "MacGruber" sketches.
CBS
"Fuller House"
Netflix's rebooted take on "Full House" is doing just fine for the streaming service, having been renewed for a fourth season, but it got off to a truly rocky start with critics who complained that the nostalgia factor of seeing a grown up DJ, Stephanie and Kimmy Gibler wore off quickly.
Netflix
"The Odd Couple"
Matthew Perry and Thomas Lennon were no Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon, or Tony Randall and Jack Klugman for that matter. The reboot lasted three seasons, but the canned, laugh track sitcom felt very old fashioned and led to some miserable ratings. Matthew Perry even tweeted out one month ahead of schedule that the show was cancelled when he saw his face painted over on his stage door.
CBS
"Dynasty"
The CW rebooted the classic '80s primetime soap in 2017, but despite the buzz for Peruvian-born Nathalie Kelley as Cristal, the show drew critical pans and weak ratings -- still scoring a second season thanks to a lucrative Netflix deal.
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With reboots of “Charmed” and “Magnum PI” on the way, TheWrap looks at TV revivals that never should’ve happened
Revivals of "Arrested Development" and the upcoming "Murphy Brown" are making waves as well new versions of "Charmed" and "Magnum PI" coming soon. But will they all be worthy of watching? TheWrap looks at the reboots of classic TV shows that should've gotten the boot from the start.
