#X-Files scripts

[pianogirlxf]

Bought Gillian Anderson’s production-used X-Files script from season 9 that has her acting notes written on the facing pages. Yeah. I can die now. Lol.

[myselfandsomeotherbeing]

THE X FILES, season 2 episode 14 - "Die Hand Die Verletzt"

[scullysbagelbites]

Guys… I’m completely devastated by the script for the end of “Never Again”…

Like what do you mean he was about to tell her that her life has become his too… and he stops but she already knew what he was going to say.

I’m crying.

[dunhamhairograpy]

Gethsemane Cut Scene: Scully offers to stay the night

In a cut/re-write, Mulder is told that Roach did abduct his sister as depicted in 'Paper Hearts'. Seeing how upset he is, Scully offers to stay with Mulder but he refuses.

[tincanhoe]

Kinda funny that there was multiple times in TXF they had Mulder and Scully kiss just to cut it. Like why were they making Gillian and David kiss for no reason😭😭😭

[lets-steal-an-archive]

I doubt this'll get far enough to reach anyone who might have anything kicking around but yelling into the void has worked before (e.g. Supernatural, The X-Files, bonus X-Files):

Back in June 2024 TV Writing added a nice little set of 12 Xena: Warrior Princess scripts.

I made the four scripts Cousin Liz shared many years ago into pdfs and sent them to TV Writing, they were added in October 2024.

In December I stumbled on a new upload of the 2008 Photobucket images of "The God You Know" shared by LadyKate63 and made the draft where all of the page numbers were visible into a pdf. I sent that along with the first and last of season one to TV Writing:

Xena Warrior Princess 1x01 - Sins of the Past (READ NOW)

Xena Warrior Princess 1x24 - Is There a Doctor in the House (READ NOW)

Xena Warrior Princess 6x12 - The God You Know (READ NOW)

Finally, my question:

In celebration of the pilot first airing on 13 March 1995, is there anyone out there who still has any of the Creation Entertainment scripts from Xena: Warrior Princess kicking around that they'd be willing to email* to TV Writing, XenaGabrielle, and/or me?

—

Update 02/23/2025:

We're up to 42 Xena scripts, 6 Hercules (crossover episode) scripts, and 3 Xena outlines/beat sheets!

Beat Sheets, Outlines, Misc. Unproduced:

Xena: Warrior Princess 2x00 - The Last Days of Socrates (Unproduced Episode Outline)

Xena: Warrior Princess 4x07 - Locked Up and Tied Down (Outline)

Xena: Warrior Princess 6x11 - Dangerous Prey (Beat Sheet)

Xena: Warrior Princess 6x00 - Fallen (Unproduced Episode)

—

*If you send any you'd be willing to share directly to TV Writing he won't tell who donated what (e.g. less than a month after he added almost all of the remaining the latest drafts of the Supernatural collection, someone scanned and emailed Supernatural 6x01 and he hasn't shared who donated it to me, one of the original lunatics who started building that collection in 2019 and retired the project in 2024).

**The owner of XenaGabrielle will also change the contributor info to me, when I cold email fan collectors working on a public script collection I use the old project account.

[kinokoshoujoart]

did not expect to find forbidden inaccessible gay autocannibalism variant of rock’s after-marriage line hidden away in the dialogue files for a wonderful life special edition for the ps2 but here we are

context:

[jonathanarcher]

My impression of Mulder and Scully trying to get Skinner to take them out for ice cream

INT. SKINNER’S OFFICE - DAY

SKINNER and MULDER sit across from each other at the desk.

MULDER: Sir, Agent Scully and I would like permission to try that ice cream place that opened up down the street.

SKINNER: Your request to get ice cream is denied, Agent Mulder.

MULDER: But, sir-

SKINNER: You think they don’t know you want to get ice cream? They watch your every move. You’d be lucky to get a snow cone.

MULDER: And what about you? What’s your dessert of choice?

SKINNER: Your request is denied and that’s final. You’re dismissed, Agent Mulder.

Mulder angrily leaves and the CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN enters through a side door, holding a cigarette in one hand and a milkshake in the other. He and Skinner make wordless eye contact.

INT. SCULLY’S APARTMENT - NIGHT

SCULLY, in her pajamas, opens her door to reveal Skinner holding two melting vanilla ice cream cones. He shoves them into her hands.

SCULLY: Director Skinner, what are you-

SKINNER: There’s no time. Get those to Mulder before they’re gone completely.

Skinner turns to leave, but is stopped by Scully calling after him.

SCULLY: Skinner… thank you.

SKINNER: Don’t thank me yet.

Skinner makes his exit as we push in on Scully’s pensive face, then cut to black.

[rosenkranz-isnt-dead]

trying to explain cancer to Mulder: so imagine there's a demon

[x-files-scripts]

The X-Files - “Closure”

Written by Chris Carter & Frank Spotnitz

December 8, 1999 (GOLD)

Trimmed lines:

Deleted scene:

[actual-changeling]

This was supposed to be a short little Folie à Deux meta, but several hours of writing, thinking, and script research later, and suddenly here we are.

Welcome to this glimpse into my insane mind.

So! Let's go on a little journey and discuss the ending of season five, because Folie à Deux not only sets the foundation for The End but actively makes it so much worse than it could have been.

In the previous episodes, Mulder has been ditching her and blowing her off more and more, he keeps doing things behind her back without telling her, they keep having fights about belief vs. hard facts, and then, at the beginning of that episode, what happens?

MULDER: I must've done something to piss him off. SCULLY: What do you mean? MULDER: Get stuck with this jerk-off assignment or have I finally reached that magic point in my career where every time somebody sees Bigfoot or the Virgin Mary on a tortilla I get called to offer my special insight on the matter? SCULLY: You're saying "I" a lot. I heard "we." Nor do I assume that this case is just a waste of our time. MULDER: Not yours, anyway. There's no reason both of us should go to Chicago. I'll take care of it. SCULLY: Mulder! MULDER: I'm monster boy, right?

He actively and intentionally breaks them up against her will. Mulder is making decisions for THEM without consulting or listening to her, and what can she do except let him run off like he so clearly wants to.

Now, what do you think she takes away from that?

After being left in the dark about his undercover mission in the episode before? After Mulder showing her, one way or another, that he does not want to work with her, that he's fine leaving her behind?

But alright, she stays behind, it's simply Mulder being Mulder.

She does the research he asks her to do. She shows up and helps out when he gets taken hostage. She listens to him, tries to understand, she's concerned because he hasn't been sleeping. She does the fucking autopsy even though he went behind her back and tricked her into it. She keeps looking and looking and looking, and by the end, she's not relieved that the case is finally done or that Mulder is no longer actively insane.

Folie à Deux—a madness shared by two, that's what she believes is happening to her, to them.

Shared by two. Scully thinks of them as a pair, a team, an "us" and a "we".

We all know what he tells her when she visits him at the hospital, but let's really really think about the consequences of it.

MULDER: Scully, you have to believe me. Nobody else on this whole damn planet does or ever will. You're my one in five billion.

Yeah, alright, that sounds intensely romantic and affirming of their partnershi— oh that?

Oh, that's Diana. No, I never told you about her even though she's arguably one of the most impactful people in my life. I found the X Files with her, she believes in my theories without giving me any resistance, we were in a relationship, she's back now and I am spending more time with her than with you while ALSO not paying attention to you.

If I will tell you about her now? No. But I WILL treat her like she's my partner and not you.

SCULLY: Say that what you're suggesting were even possible, who'd want to kill a kid whose abilities would offer you the ultimate advantage—I mean in business, in war, in anything? DIANA: Maybe somebody whose business is in keeping secrets. MULDER: Well, let's test him. I think the kid will stand up. Let's run a brain scan and a psych evaluation on him. (looking away) You know what to do, Diana.

Not a single word of recognition towards Scully after the shitshow that just went down with Gibson. Way to go, Mulder, way to go.

On top of that, it is worth mentioning that Fowley calls him by his first name and he calls her by hers. Scully can probably count the amount of times Mulder has called her "Dana" on one hand, and she doesn't call him "Fox" because, and I quote:

MULDER: And I... I even made my parents call me Mulder. So... Mulder.

So, Diana is an exception. Why? Why does she get to call him that? Why she but not Scully?

Why does she get to reappear in his life after leaving without an explanation and have Mulder welcome her back with open arms, offering Scully's position on a silver platter?

Scully needs to ask TLG for help and information about Fowley, and it makes everything so much worse. Within their work-relationship, she's the scientist, that's her job, that's who she is, that's why Mulder needs her, and Fowley isn't one.

Right?

LANGLY: She was there when he discovered the X-Files. She has a background of para-science.

Oh. Oh, okay. Sure.

A big thank you to @sentientsky for sharing the script, which gives us this wonderful additional information:

So, to summarize, she's hot, Mulder's type, has exactly the kind of background that someone working on the X Files needs, and they have an old dynamic to fall back into—a dynamic they fall back into period.

She goes through all that, stays up all night to make sure her evidence is scientifically sound, just for Mulder to not even back her up when Spender and Fowley challenge her.

The script actively states that this is what Diana has been waiting for during the meeting—to refute Scully.

Fowley questions Scully's capabilities as both an agent and a scientist during a meeting right in front of Mulder, and Scully looks at him. She waits for him to say something, to defend her like he usually would, but he doesn't.

He doesn't even look at her.

The betrayal she must have felt, ESPECIALLY after what he told her at the hospital. It's no wonder she writes off anything and everything he says to her when he's injured in some form after that experience.

She needs to make herself believe he was just talking like that because he was having some sort of episode, because what are the other options here?

One in five billion, until someone better comes along?

Until he no longer needs her to do something for him?

Until she has outlived her usefulness and has transitioned from being a vital part of their investigations to being annoying and overly sceptical?

Until it becomes clear that Mulder isn't the issue in their partnership, it's her? That all her fears and anxieties weren't so irrational, after all?

Because it's important to remember that this is the day after she saw him and Diana at the hospital.

After THIS:

How much do you wanna bet that she spent the last, what, twelve hours since seeing them trying to convince herself that it's not what she thinks?

That, of course, Mulder is still her partner. That they're still a team. That she is not an indulgence to Mulder or the X Files, that she belongs down in that basement just as much as he does.

You and me. Me and you. Right? ...Right??

The case goes off the rails, Fowley gets shot, Gibson gets kidnapped, CSM delivers a Star Wars line and later burns down their office.

She stays at his apartment for the night, and we see them interacting when Skinner calls, but Mulder is still not fully acknowledging her. He asks her about Fowley and any news regarding their assignments, but that's it.

No "how are you feeling about potentially getting fired, Scully?"

Now, there's this tiny but important part that they decided to cut, which emphasizes the emotional gap between them; it re-affirms what we have seen for way too many episodes.

Mulder cares about her, but he is completely taking her and the safety she offers him for granted. He is, and I mean this in the least negative way possible, essentially using her as a crutch—without even noticing. Scully notices, though, and in lieu of an explanation from Mulder, she is forced to draw her own conclusions.

I'm going to stay here (your life) if that's okay with you (if you still want me in it).

When they're standing in the ashes at the end, it's just as horrifying and terrible for her as it is for Mulder, and she clings to him for the both of them. She clings to him to keep him from breaking, and he doesn't hug her back.

Scully is giving him her everything, she's trying so incredibly hard to keep him in one piece and soothe his pain, but, tell me, who is taking care of her?

There's a limit, she has reached it, and Mulder doesn't even realize it.

Is he acting maliciously at any point? No, definitely not. However, he is carelessly cruel sometimes, doesn't communicate how much Scully means to him, and simply keeps taking and taking because she keeps giving.

Five years, and yet he still blames and distrusts her when she doesn't immediately jump onto his insect zombie bandwagon. Five years, and never once did he mention the person he found the X Files with. Fowley so easily takes Scully's place and she understandably feels rejected and unloved.

WE know he loves her, yes, but she isn't sure of that anymore. Loving someone comes with feeling comfortable around them and being yourself, yet he is incapable of fully understanding the responsibility they both have to keep each other safe from each other.

Scully is sacrificing herself to keep him from breaking and he does not even notice how she is falling apart right next to him.

[randomfoggytiger]

The X-Files's Alone, from Script to Screen: Collaboration and Cuts

Alone is not a half-bad episode, if you are able to take two elements in stride: Scully's "regifting" of the Apollo 11 key chain and Mulder's insistence that Doggett shoot a lizard nemesis while blind.

In doing a bit of research, I came across some quotes from Season 8's audio commentary (courtesy of Wikipedia):

The episode was written by executive producer Frank Spotnitz, and marked his directorial debut. Because of his position as both the writer of the episode and the director, Spotnitz later noted that it was hard to achieve perfection when filming the episode. However, he did note that, as both the writer and director, he had more creative control than usual. Originally Spotnitz did not have plans to direct the episode, but he was encouraged to do so by David Duchovny; Duchovny reminded Spotnitz that it would be the last Monster-of-the-Week (stand-alone) episode to feature his character, Fox Mulder.

Not a surprise, since David Duchovny was often invested in the character elements of the show.

But other little things stand out:

As with many other episodes, Duchovny did not want his character to have all the answers, giving the reason that it looked too easy for him. Duchovny and Spotnitz later had a long discussion on how to remove the scenes or tweak them. Unfortunately, because the episode was the last stand-alone episode to feature the character of Fox Mulder, Duchovny did not care as much as "usual" about creating a "mystery" for the episode.

(Perhaps because the final climax involved Mulder encouraging a blind man shoot in his defense? But I digress.)

After production and shooting was finalized, the rough cut of "Alone" was nine minutes over time and in order to compensate for the time, various sections were cut during final editing....

Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) appeared in the episode only because Spotnitz wanted a chance to direct an episode that featured his character. However, because the episode was over time, Spotnitz ended up editing a large majority of his more "prominent" scenes out. In addition, another section that was scripted but ultimately cut was a scene between Anderson and Duchovny.

Curiosity now peaked, I scrounged around Boggsfiles's site for Alone's scripts. While it's impossible to gauge what scenes had been chopped already, there are echoes here and there of a more verbose, in-tune Mulder-- lingerings of the changes DD might have suggested to keep his character's flaws or idiosyncrasies intact.

SCRIPT BITS THAT HAD TO BE CUT FOR TIME

Skinner's extended scene:

Scully calling Danny for help:

Mulder confirming that the Snowcat ran out of gas:

CHARACTERIZATION BITS THAT WERE CHANGED

Mulder and Scully's conversation opening:

Mulder explaining his thoughts rather than relying on his and Scully's unspoken:

Mulder openly expressing his concern for Scully's choices and its effects:

Mulder stopping the flow of conversation to give Scully praise:

(Compared to the quick back-and-forth in the episode--)

Mulder not double-taking towards Scully in the hospital:

BONUS

@xfiles-behind-the-scenes transcription of Spotnitz's commentary on Mulder and Scully's back-and-forth (and @settle-down-frohike's A+ addition) can be found here.

CONCLUSION

I don't mind the changes, but I do covet the cuts.

Thanks for reading~

Enjoy!

[scullysbagelbites]

Some script moments from “Small Potatoes”

Moment on the couch: (you know the one.)

End of episode:

[spnscripthunt-inactive]

Scripts? ✔️

Call Sheets? ✔️

Shooting Schedules? ✔️

One Line Schedules? ✔️

35mm Scans? ✔️

Dailies? ✔️

[battleshipgarcy]

25 years ago today, my favourite episode of The X-Files aired: 620 "The Unnatural" 👽⚾️❤

"Show me your true face or you will die without honor." - Alien Bounty Hunter

"This is my true face." - Josh Exley

👆 I cry every single time while watching that scene. Then again when Ex realises (in his heart) that he has become human as Arthur holds him in his arms, comforting him as he dies. That scene is just beautiful in its sincerity, and in delivering the message of the story ❤ Love can change your very nature. Not romantic love, but the love and passion you have for unnecessary things that bring you joy.

[winchesticles67]

DAMN SCULLY 😦😦