New X-Files agent no stranger to otherworldly assignments
Alex Strachan, Vancouver Sun Television Critic

PASADENA, Calif. -- The X-Files has a new leading man, but nobody here could put a name to the familiar face. As with all things X-Files, Thursday's last-minute announcement that Robert Patrick has been added to the its cast, beginning with the Nov. 5 season premiere, posed as many questions as it answered.

Patrick is hardly a household name, but chances are you may recognize his face: He was the villainous cyborg in James Cameron's Terminator 2: Judgement Day who chases Linda Hamilton to the ends of the earth and does deadly battle with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Patrick will play skeptical FBI agent John Doggett, who butts heads with Scully (Emmy Award-winning actor Gillian Anderson) right off the bat. Patrick was hired to fill in for David Duchovny, who is signed to appear in just 11 of 20 episodes next season. Of those 11 episodes, only six will revolve around Duchovny's Mulder character. Anderson will appear in all 20 episodes, though her character will only be the focus of a few.

X-Files creator and executive-producer Chris Carter faced reporters late Thursday at the semi-annual gathering of the Television Critics Association, but Patrick was nowhere to be found. Carter said he had been looking for an actor who could project a blue-collar image, "a man's man," and that Patrick fit the image perfectly.

In an often lively question-and-answer session with reporters, Carter strayed from his normal public persona of reticence and startled many of those present with his candour -- even admitting that last season was not the show's finest -- and used wry humour and witty comebacks to deflect questions about sensitive plot points.

In the season finale, for example, viewers learned that Scully is pregnant, causing one writer to wonder aloud whether the notoriously stiff and guarded Scully has been having sex. "Yes, there's a potential she was having sex," Carter said sarcastically. "We're going to play with that story-line."

Asked if The X-Files would ever show such a relationship "in the flesh" as it were, Carter replied, "This is prime time. You can't consummate a relationship."

Who's the baby's father?

"I am," Carter replied, without missing a beat. "I'm the baby's father, and its mother."

Carter admitted there was serious tension between himself and Duchovny earlier this year, after Duchovny accused him of colluding with Twentieth Century Fox Television to bilk him out of residuals for reruns. Duchovny did not name Carter as a defendant in a lawsuit he filed against the studio, but did name him in supporting documents. The case has yet to be resolved. "I'm still not exactly certain about what it was I was supposed to have done," Carter said. "It was all a mystery to me, but then lawsuits are mysterious."

Carter said he and Duchovny have had lunch "two or three times" in the past 10 days and are well on their way to patching up their differences.

Carter dispelled any rumours that The X-Files is moving back to Vancouver for its eighth, and potentially final, season. Asked if that was ever a serious consideration, Carter replied: "Never for me." There was speculation in May and early June that the Emmy Award-winning series was coming back to Vancouver because the studio wanted to cut costs, especially as it became evident Duchovny will play a diminished role in the new season.

Carter said that while he hopes to give Anderson more opportunities to write and direct, he is opposed to her being the focus of all 20 episodes next season. "Gillian needs to be near her daughter," Carter said.

Anderson gave birth to her daughter Piper during the second season in Vancouver. Piper's father, and Anderson's ex-husband, is Vancouver production designer Clyde Klotz. The two are now estranged, but have shared custody of Piper since their separation three years ago.

Carter said it was important to assess the chemistry between Anderson and Patrick before deciding to hire the new actor. He admitted that it was not easy writing May's season finale without knowing whether Duchovny would return or not, "but I have to deal with what I deal with."

He added that while he cannot state for a fact that this season will be The X-Files' last, neither he, Duchovny nor Anderson are contracted beyond the end of the year. "I'm really back where I started," Carter said. "I really wish it wasn't that way, but that's the way this business works."

He confirmed however that The X-Files spin-off series The Lone Gunmen, featuring Vancouver actors Dean Haglund, Tom Braidwood and Bruce Harwood, is confirmed to begin production in Vancouver, perhaps as soon as next month. He described the three performers' ascension from relative obscurity to leading-role status in their own TV show as "a happy accident," and said the series will play up The X-Files' more comic angles.

"[The Lone Gunmen] is kind of like Mission Impossible on laughing gas," he said.