Was the Cigarette Smoking Man telling the truth?
We talked to Carter about what this could mean forTheX-Files future.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: The episode explained how William B. Davis Smoking Man survived the explosive 2002 series finale.
Credit: Ed Araquel/Fox
How did you decide on bringing him back that way?
CHRIS CARTER:I liked the idea that he was burned almost to death, yet survived somehow.
Like the Devil himself, he cant be burned by his own fire.
It was a surprising, but not incredible, way to bring him back.
The Smoking Man seems to answer lots of questions regarding the conspiracy.
How much of what he said can we trust?
I think theres still nothing you might take out of this that is necessarily definitive.
So to believe him, ever, is at your own peril.
Does the Smoking Man care about Mulder?
And if so, why?
I think he truly loves Mulder.
It is kind of paternal.
I think he respects Mulder.
I think he believes Mulder is a great enemy.
The events of the finale radically change the world around Mulder and Scully.
Do you seeThe X-Filesever returning to a point where they are back to investigating individual cases for the FBI?
This is a situation that doesnt preclude telling futureX-Filesstories, if they can find their way out of this.
So, while I see this as a situation thats grave and possibly doomed!
I would say, wait and see.
Agents Miller and Einstein returned for the finale.
Do you see them as a part of the series going forward?
I can tell you right now that [Lauren Ambrose and Robbie Amell] are two terrific actors.
People spent years looking forward to seeing Mulder and Scully together again.
Clearly youre a sociopath, since you kept them apart for almost the entirety of this finale.
And I think that they are forever connected, whether romantically or not.
Have you had a conversation about continuing the series, either on television or in feature-film form?
In a conversation I had today, actually, it was suggested that theres an appetite for more.
When that will be, I have no idea.
I wasnt trying to set up a movie [with this finale], just an ongoing story.
In the next phase of this story, will they find him?
That search is primary for them, along with solving the bigger mysteries.
I think it defines their lives.
