'The X-Files’ Most Ambitious Episode Broke Its Most Frustrating 6-Year Trend

Published Sep 27, 2026, 11:11 AM EDT

Michael Hein has been covering entertainment, fandom news, and trending topics since 2016 on outlets including Rogues Portal, PopCulture.com, and ComicBook.com. He has provided live coverage of red carpet premieres, conventions, and up-fronts, and has interviewed major stars including Charles Dance, Patrick Stewart, and Chloe Sevigny. An avid fiction reader and writer, Michael has been diving deep into all the biggest book-to-screen adaptations of the last decade, from Game of Thrones to Foundation.

TV fans today complaining about slow burns must have missed out on The X-Files craze of the 1990s and early-2000s. The series was infamous for teasing a romance between its two protagonists — Agent Fox Moulder (David Duchovny) and Dr. Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) — without ever defining their relationship. In fairness, the agents had other things to worry about. In fact, they were right in the middle of the show's biggest serialized storyline when the producers finally allowed them to share a kiss on screen. This should have been a relief to fans, but many found it maddening. For one thing, the kiss came without much fanfare or commentary, and for another, it happened at the end of the show's most ambitious installment to date.

Mulder and Scully's first kiss on screen came in Season 7, Episode 4, "Millennium," which first aired on November 28, 1999. At the time, the status of the X-Files as an official FBI assignment was unclear, but the duo were definitely supposed to be working on other issues for the bureau. While they continued trying to uncover conspiracies, this episode shoehorned them into a crossover with the series Millennium, which had recently been canceled. The result was a massive TV event that felt slightly out of place, and has left fans scratching their heads for over two decades.

'Millennium' Was Not Where Fans Expected the Mulder-Scully Kiss

Image via FOX

The chemistry between Duchovny and Anderson made it inevitable that fans would interpret Mulder and Scully as a romantic pairing, and The X-Files writers definitely encouraged that over the years. Still, by Season 7 many were beginning to doubt that the show would ever take a romantic turn and make their relationship canonical. "Millennium" was the 143rd episode of the series overall, and it seemed like too great a change to introduce at this point. The timing was also unexpected — a long-awaited kiss would most likely come in a season premiere or finale, or even in a movie, since the series had just gone to the big screen for the first time.

On top of that, "Millennium" was an episode where Mulder and Scully had to share their screen time with former FBI agent Frank Black (Lance Henriksen) for a crossover with the series Millennium. The X-Files and Millennium were both created and executive produced by Chris Carter, and both aired on Fox. Millennium was canceled abruptly in 1999, so Carter intended to use this X-Files episode to wrap up the show after the fact.

All in all, the episode was regarded as a failure by fans of both shows. It didn't do much to tidy up the ending of Millennium, and Henriksen himself later admitted he was disappointed in it. It also pulled The X-Files off of its serialized story arc for a monster-of-the-week style episode, which felt like an interruption. To top it off, the Mulder-Scully kiss caught fans completely off-guard. It happened in a hospital in the aftermath of their adventure, with Millennium characters and other FBI agents all around them. The story took place on New Year's Eve, and the two were watching the ball drop on TV in silence when they leaned in for a kiss.

"World didn't end," Mulder remarked in a reference to the episode and the Y2K panic. The kiss was not chaste or unromantic by any means, yet the lack of commentary here made some fans furious. They could no longer say that Mulder and Scully had never kissed, but this could also be dismissed as a New Year's Eve moment with no real meaning. For those that wanted the show to resolve this relationship into a true on-screen romance, this was worse than nothing.

'The X-Files' Kept Its Romance Mysterious

Image via Fox

The fans who felt let down by this episode had a lot more heartache coming. Later in this same season, the episode "All Things" opened on Mulder and Scully in bed, having apparently spent the night together. Even worse — once again the hook-up went uncommented-upon, indicating this wasn't their first dalliance. Their relationship continued in this manner through the rest of the series and the revival as well. The series matter-of-factly showed us where Mulder and Scully were at from moment to moment, without ever lingering on their relationship or stopping to talk about it very much.

Love it or hate it, this phenomenon likely has a lot to do with the behind-the-scenes drama impacting the show in Season 7. The X-Files was a massive hit at this time, and its cast commanded massive influence. Starting in Season 6, the production moved from British Columbia, Canada to Los Angeles at Duchovny's request. The actor wanted to stay closer to his home and his wife during the filming season, and he also wanted the chance to pursue other work when timing permitted. Anderson and others on the cast and crew agreed with him, but Carter opposed the move.

It turned out that there was bad blood brewing between Duchovny and Carter in Season 7. The actor sued 20th Century Fox during this time, claiming that the studio had undersold the rights to The X-Files, severely impacting his pay. This lawsuit was settled in Duchovny's favor. According to the book Examinations: An Unauthorized Look at Seasons 6-9 of The X-Files by Tom Kessenich, the lawsuit revealed that Carter had known what Fox was doing all along, and chose not to warn Duchovny. Duchovny announced his intention to leave the show after Season 7, though he ended up taking a recurring role and eventually returned to the series full-time.

The X-Files was never a straightforward show in any way — including the romance between its protagonists, which was a central part for so many viewers. However, in the years since the original series ended, many online fandom communities have celebrated the show's unique approach to romance and have relished the hunt for subtext and clues throughout its 200+ episodes. The X-Files is streaming now on Hulu in the U.S., and is also available on PlutoTV for free with ads.

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  Agent Fox Mulder

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  Agent Dana Scully

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  Mitch Pileggi

  Assistant Director Walter Skinner

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  William B. Davis

  The Cigarette-Smoking Man