How will Scully and the fans get by without Mulder?
by Zap Telewest Digital

AFTER THE REVELATION at the finale of the last series that Agent Scully was mysteriously with child The X-Files actress Gillian Anderson and the producers of the show experienced something of a pregnant pause...

Anderson, 32, says she was 'absolutely exhausted' by the end of filming the seventh series and adamant she would not continue. 'I mean no one would have believed that the X-Files would go beyond five years, it just felt impossible ,' she says. Nevertheless, she still had one year of her contract to run and she admits that push came to during her negotiations with the show's producer 20th Century Fox 'I was over a barrel,' she says. "There are no two ways about it.' 

Describing the negotiations as 'incredibly uncomfortable and unfortunate', she was particularly irate over a widening salary disparity between herself and co-star David Duchovny who plays Mulder. Duchovny remains with the series, but only on a limited basis. 'It became ridiculous and unacceptable,' Anderson says. The bottom line is that she signed for another two years, in return for bigger money and other considerations from 20th Century Fox, including extended breaks to allow her more time with her 6 year old daughter, Piper.
 

"I mean, no one would have believed that the X-Files would go beyond five years, it just felt impossible"

Gillian Anderson

On the positive side , while Anderson was battling with producers, she and The X-Files creator Chris Carter started discussing his plans for the forthcoming eighth season . 'After hearing Chris's enthusiasm about this new character he had created, the concept that perhaps this could be a good thing started to enter in my mind,' she says. 'Now the show feels fresh, Robert Patrick has come in and he's very enthusiastic. The opportunity of creating a new character has imbued the writers with a new enthusiasm and gives the actors more to work with. 'So there's a feeling of starting over, in a sense. If we do just one season with Robert because the fans just can't deal with Mulder not being around, then that's what we'll do.'' If they can accept Robert and they get what an interesting character this is and how it can move things forward, then that great too.'' It's going to be what it is going to be, but it would be nice if people kept an open mind and aren't initially afraid and judgmental.

AGENT JOHN DOGGETT doesn't get off to an auspicious start as Dana Scully's new partner. His attempt to break the ice - by telling Scully that he 's always taken the rumours about her and the now missing Mulder with a proverbial grain of salt - backfires. Result? He ends up with her drink all over his face.

His attempt to break the ice...backfires. Result? He ends up with her drink all over his face.

Doggett's initial meeting with Agent Scully

It is a gesture that prompts the best steely eyed glare the experienced Robert Patrick, who plays the new man, can muster and it leaves no doubt that it will be a while before there is any thaw in this partnership. Indeed Scully's pregnancy and Mulder's believed alien abduction could turn out to be just side issues. Patrick says he has only a vague idea of how the relationship will develop.

'I'm open to anything,' says the 41-year-old. 'I really hesitate to read the episodes as the scripts come in. I tend to stay focused on ones we're doing as I don't really want to know too far in advance where Doggett is going.'

Best known for playing in movies - his break came in 1991 when he starred as the T-1000 in Terminator 2 with Arnold Schwarzenegger - Patrick hopes The X-Files will allow people to see another side to him. 'I get to do some big movies, but I tend to be cast as a tough guy or villain. I'm not usually the most likeable character,' says Patrick, who plays David Scatino in C4's The Sopranos. 'This show is enabling me to be seen in a different light. I'm the good guy and that is going to be very interesting for me. Like, at least my parents will enjoy it right?' The bonus for Patrick is that The X-Files moved its production base permanently from Vancouver to LA, where he lives with his wife Barbara, three-year-old daughter Austin and baby Samuel, just before the start of season seven. Could life get any better?

Source: Zap (Telewest Digital TV Guide), Thanks Lizzi!