The truth is still out there and it's going to be shepherded by some women this time around. Dana Walden, chairman and CEO of Fox Television Group revealed The X-Files has hired two female directors and two female writers for the upcoming season of 10 episodes.
Gillian Anderson, the star of the long-running series and only one of two female directors of the show's more than 200 episodes, commented on the news that Chris Carter had hired an all-male writers room. "And 2 out of 207 eps directed by women. I too look forward to the day when the numbers are different. #TheFutureisFemale," she said in a retweet of The Washington Post's coverage of the news. See that below.
At the 2017 TCA summer press tour, Walden said Carter has assigned two episodes to female writers and two of the 10 episodes will be directed by women. The writers include Karen Nielson, and Kristen Cloke and Shannon Hamblin writing another episode based on a story by Glen Morgan, according to TV Insider.
At the panel, Walden was quick to point out that "half of our directors are diverse."
"I think Chris is moving in the right direction," Walden said."I don't want to make any excuses for anyone. I want to just explain that after 200+ episodes of a show that has a very deep and specific mythology, where the fanbase has a very high expectation that those episodes are going to deliver on those easter eggs and they are going to be consistent with those original episodes, the tendency is to want to rely on people that helped you on the original when you're just doing 10 episodes. And the crew that was with Chris for a very long time happened to be a group of male writers. That is not an excuse and as I said Chris has just hired two female writers and two female directors. It's only to explain how we ended up in that situation in the very beginning of this process."
Was it in response to the outcry from viewers? "I don't believe so because we had hired the writers before news broke of this particular situation," Walden said. "No one was replaced...I'm not 100 percent sure of the chronology of the situation, but no one was replaced."
The new season, like the last installment, will feature two mythology-heavy episodes and the remaining eight will have sprinkles of mythology in them, but will be primarily standalone.
When asked about the reviews and some negative fan response to the new season, Walden told a group of reporters she's seen the script and it's "excellent."
"It's hard because I don't want to acknowledge…I don't want to say it was disappointing because we got a lot of positive feedback with 15+ million viewers an episode," Walden said. "I think Chris is really excited about doing a new round of episodes. There was certainly no reason for him to have to do it…it wasn't about the money. He had a real hunger and enthusiasm in doing future episodes. I know he's really excited about it. Everyone's seen the first script and it's excellent. I think it's a very good starting point for the show and we're excited about the next installment."
The X-Files returns in 2018 on Fox.