Duchovny Talks X-Files: Cold Cases and Season 11

EW caught up with Duchovny to get the scoop on what it was like to reimagine Mulder’s dry humor over audio. Also, IGN spoke exclusively to David Duchovny ahead of his appearance at San Diego Comic-Con this past weekend about The X-Files: Cold Cases, playing Mulder in a new format, and what he knows so far about Season 11 of The X-Files. These are excerpts from the interviews.

Were you familiar with the particular comics that this audiobook is based on?
No, I’m happy that there are comics, but I’ve never read them. But I was impressed by the writing and the grasp of the character. The truth of the matter is there really haven’t been that many writers on The X-Files over the 24 years. Even going into this new season, it’s a lot of the same people, which is a testament to Chris’ loyalty and his taste, really. Once you venture out of that, I certainly would be afraid sometimes that people wouldn’t get it. But I think they had a really good grasp of the character and of the kinds of stories, of the humor, which is another challenge to do when it’s just your voice and it’s not your full expressive repertoire.

You’ve talked in the past about how easy it is for you to slip back into character when you’re acting opposite Gillian Anderson. How was it recording as Mulder when you weren’t opposite Gillian?
It’s very similar. I mean, at this point, [Mulder is] a character that I can just kind of feel physically in and of myself. And if the writing is in character, if the writing makes sense character-wise, then it’s easy. And I think what these guys got was, they embraced the humor that Mulder can bring, so I’m always gung-ho for that. It was a different challenge to be able to do it — I could never have a deadpan humorous side to him. The deadpan is taken away from me on audio. So I guess he may be a little less deadpan to sell whatever jokes are coming his way.

Is there anything you can tell us about Season 11 of The X-Files?

I wish I could. I’ve been pestering Chris Carter for scripts for the last two weeks and I’ve received nothing. So he says I’ll get one in the next few days and at that point, I will alert the media and give spoilers to everyone. [Laughs] I’ll just get to work on what I hope to be is a great season. Chris seems to be happy with the arch or the central idea they’ve chosen for this season to play around in. And he’s got a pretty good track record so I trust we’ll have some interesting stuff to do.

Do you know if it’s going to be laid out like last season where there are the mythology episodes on the ends and stand-alone in between?

I don’t know. I would assume that’s the way to do it. I think the handicap of the last season with only six episodes was just that - six episodes. So much ground had to be covered even in the first two. Which was reiterating or repeating or reminding people of the show and the issues of the show. And the characters and their issues. It was a lot of treading water that had to be done to satisfy both old and new viewers. And by the time we did that we were already almost halfway through what we were doing. I think now that we have ten [episodes], obviously, there’s going to be a little bit of recap, a little bit of refresher - I’m assuming. I don’t know that cause I haven’t seen anything. But once we handle that, then I think we’re off and running for a good nine and a half episodes. This is gonna be great. It will be more relaxed. I think it will be a better season. I think in many ways six... I think we handicapped ourselves too much. And it was obviously because of time constraints of everyone involved by I think 10 is a much better season for a show with big ideas like this one has.