The X-Files has been one of the most tremendously performing mystery television series to have been created to date. Raging for eleven stunning seasons and a total of 218 episodes over the span of about two and a half decades until 2018, the drama wreaked havoc in the entertainment industry with its throat-cutting mystery and thrilling sequences.
Yet, despite its immense popularity among audiences worldwide, The X-Files still lacked one thing: female power on sets, especially in the directing chair. While this was pointed out and raised concerns over by Gillian Anderson, the show’s creator Chris Carter had the wildest response prepared that is enough to leave anyone astounded.
Chris Carter Had A Wild Response To Gillian Anderson’s Concerns For The X-Files
Back in 2017, when the superhit television series The X-Files was still on the hot seat among audience preferences, a news report pointed out how few females were in the commanding crew for the show. This had actress Gillian Anderson, who played FBI Special Agent Dana Scully in the top-rated series, speak up and raise concerns about the same.
However, her concerns were put to rest by one wild response by the show’s creator Chris Carter, who, when asked if any new writers would be hired for the then-upcoming episodes after season 10 of the show by IndieWire, said:
“I think it would have been a mistake because you want to make good on a promise. You don’t want to take a chance. If it didn’t work you’d be sunk because there is no way to recover if someone wrote a script and it didn’t work.”
Continuing, he went on to further put due emphasis on how new writers wouldn’t be able to match the original style of the fan-favorite series and are more likely to make mistakes during the same, which is unacceptable.
“The clock is ticking. The clock is always ticking in series television. You don’t have a chance to make a mistake. You have to put it on the page first and you can’t fix it in post, no matter how much you rely on your post-production process. If it’s not there to begin with, it’s very hard to manufacture quality.”
Not only this but when he was pushed to name some writers whom he would love to write an episode for The X-Files, Charlie Kaufman and Aaron Sorkin were Carter’s top preferences, which further made it evident that he had no intentions whatsoever of working with any females from Hollywood at the time.
Gillian Anderson Really Wanted More Female Power For The X-Files
When news surfaced about how there are very few women writers and directors working on The X-Files, Gillian Anderson was among the first few advocates to speak about it. Taking to X, she shared her own take on the situation:
And 2 out of 207 eps directed by women. I too look forward to the day when the numbers are different. #TheFutureisFemale https://t.co/38SVdTfCR1
— Gillian Anderson (@GillianA) June 29, 2017
However, this was followed by series creator Chris Carter’s wild response. Thus, in response to Carter’s comment, Anderson once again took to X to let out how she was just stating the facts while talking about less female power for the sci-fi show all the while mentioning how she believes that they could do better than that.
Not ‘slam’, not ‘rip’, just stating truth. I believe we can do better. #TheXFiles https://t.co/KGfxLcd4nO
— Gillian Anderson (@GillianA) June 30, 2017
Despite all her concerns, The X-Files still stood at only two episodes being directed by women — one by Gillian Anderson herself, and the other by Michelle MacLaren, who later on went on to helm several other episodes from other widely acclaimed TV shows like Breaking Bad.
