Fox President David Madden revealed Wednesday that such an announcement is likely to arrive “shortly” while speaking to reporters at a Television Critics Association event in Pasadena, California, reports EW.
The revival, which premiered on January 24, 2016, marked the series’ 10th season, and arrived more than 13 years after the 2002 season 9 finale. It reunited stars Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny as their iconic characters, Dana Scully and Fox Mulder, respectively. Over the course of six episodes, they resumed their investigations of unsolved paranormal cases before leaving us with a wicked cliffhanger.
The show proved that absence does indeed make the heart grow fonder — or at least keeps it fond — by kicking off with big ratings and being the network’s most popular “newcomer” last year. At the time, execs left the door open for more X-Files, but made it clear they would have to work around the busy schedules of Anderson and Duchovny. That seems to still be the holdup, in fact. Madden told EW he’d hoped to be able to confirm season 11 at the TCA event but their deals weren’t done in time.
By making the tentative announcement, Fox is clearly optimistic that the necessary deals will ultimately be made. The network also hopes to bring fans more episodes in season 11 than it did in season 10. While it should be longer than six episodes, don’t expect the usual 22-episode order that some other broadcast shows get.
Assuming all goes according to plan, Madden is targeting a 2018 premiere for The X-Files season 11.
